Summer Dreaming
by Ruby1235
Summary: With their Summer programs starting up, Karin and Yuzu are on their first big adventure away from home. This will bring on new experiences that they had only dreamt of before, and will have them stepping out of their comfort zones. When hollows start popping up, Karin and Yuzu find themselves learning more about their connection to the spiritual world. SPIN-OFF of The Reason
1. Trying New Things

**A/N: I know I promised this spin-off a while ago, but I talk a lot about why it's taken me so long to post on my blog: ruby1235fanfiction. blogspot. com**

 **This will be a spin-off focused in on Karin and Yuzu. Both going off to their own Summer programs. This is supposed to be a Summer of change, as both girls are headed off to high school at the end. But the type of change is more than just celebrating a birthday while being off on their own for the first time. This spin-off won't be that long, probably eight to tweleve chapers at most. But, we'll see how it goes. I hope you all enjoy it.**

 **Saturday, 4th of June, noon**

* * *

"Call for Windfair Light passengers!"

The voice over head was barely heard over the busy air in the Windsworth airport. However, the busy environment seemed to be slowed down and muted out as the Kurosaki sisters turned to face one another. The two hour layover was spent with the two mostly apart with their seperate groups of friends, but they had come together to say goodbye before Karin was supposed to get on her plane.

Karin was smirking at her sister, as she crossed her arms. "So I guess this is it for a few weeks. We're about to have the time of our lives. The start of an adventure."

"It'll go by before we know it." Yuzu said, her eyes going to her phone in her hands.

Watching Yuzu for a moment, Karin shook her head. "I know it's hard, but our niece will be just as cute in a few minutes after you finish saying goodbye to me."

"How did you-"

Karin held up her own phone to show Yuzu. "She's been my background everyday since she was born."

That made Yuzu laughed, as she showed Karin her phone screen. The same picture of Mina on her's. That had Karin laughing along with her.

When their laughter died down, Yuzu was the first to step forward to hug her sister. "Be safe, and make good choices."

"Ha," Karin started, hugging her sister back. "I would say the same back to you, but you are Yuzu. You are the queen of good decisions and being safe. But hey, you should definetely try some new things this trip."

"This is our first birthday that we won't be spending together." Yuzu said after a moment.

"It'll be okay. I promise I'll call you on our birthday," Karin replied, as she pulled back a little, and she laughed. "And hey, I'm only a train ride away from you. An hour train ride. We'll have some free days mixed into our program. Which dad's not going to be too happy about, because he thinks it's only three weeks."

Yuzu laughed. "It'll be almost four weeks, but we can tell him that later."

Karin open her mouth to speak but was interrupted by the announcer again. "Final call to all Windfair Light passangers to board."

"I have to go," Karin said, slipping her bag onto her shoulders. "I'll text you when I land."

"Alright," Yuzu said with a nod of her head, watching Karin walking away. "Don't forget!"

Karin raised a hand up to acknowledge she heard her sister, as she continued on walking. Picking up her pace a little, as she looked at her watch.

Yuzu stayed standing there in the middle of the airport. Watching her sister, until she couldn't see her. Smiling after a moment, she looked down at her phone when it buzzed. It was a notification to let her know the train was leaving in a few minutes. Looking back in the direction Karin went, Yuzu smiled, and turned to go the opposite direction. _Three hour train ride, here I come._

 **Almost four hours later, Yuzu's POV**

Yuzu had arrived to the train station in Moss Tree around three thirty, then proceeded to get on a bus that would take them to the Art Institute. They had been on the bus for almost twenty minutes, and were passing over a bridge. The view was beautiful. And just barely, she could see the very distant skyline of the city Karin's plane would be landing in any minute now. She had got so distracted by the view that she almost jumped when she sensed someone sitting in the seat next to her.

Looking over, her eyes met grey eyes with the green tint to them. The owner's dirty blonde shoulder length hair was disheveled probably from sleeping. The grey snapback hat with the colorful paint platters caught her eyes next. Her eyes focused back on the grey/green ones.

"I'm usually very good at getting information out of people," the guy started, his lopsided grin showing up. "But for some reason I failed to get you to tell me that you'd be going on this trip back at the gala a couple months ago. I honestly had no idea you'd be going on this trip."

Yuzu hummed after a moment, as she moved to cross her legs. "I'm sure you could tell I was just as surprised to see you back in the airport in Karakura."

That had the guy smirking back at her. "I bet you were probably begged to do this program. You know, because of your awesomeness of being a celebrity and all that."

Feeling her cheeks growing warm, Yuzu brought a hand up to her face, as she looked away. "I'm not a celebrity."

"You keep saying that, but you're not fooling me."

Yuzu frowned then, as her eyes went back to him. "I decided to do this trip on my own. I worked hard to get them to consider accepting me into, and I paid for a lot of it with my own money."

"Sheesh," the guy said, flipping his hat around so it was on backwards, then he shook his head. "It was a compliment. I just think your work is amazing enough to get you in with a full ride… No need to bite my head off."

That took Yuzu slightly aback, and she finally sighed. "Thank you."

Hearing that had the guy's lopsided grin returning. "You're wearing your favorite color again."

Looking down, Yuzu raised an eyebrow. She had on her red shirt, jean capri's, white shoes, and the light pink and white sweater that Orihime had brought her in the airport that morning was tied around her waist. But, she knew it was just the red shirt he was talking about. "I didn't plan it. It just kind of happened."

"Just like with your paintings huh?"

"You remembered that?" Yuzu asked, a smile starting on her face.

The guy nodded then, as he smirked. "How could I forget? Your name is 'someone who likes the color red' right?"

That had Yuzu laughing, as she finally shook her head. "My name is Yuzu."

"Well Yuzu," the guy stuck out his hand to her. "My name is Keitaro. But everyone calls me Taro."

Watching him for a moment, Yuzu reached over and shook his hand. "Alright Taro." She said, keeping his eyes for a moment, before she realized the bus was coming to a stop.

They were ushered off the bus, right in front of the Moss Tree Institute of Art and Design. The building was huge, and made of glass. It was kind of intimidating to think about this is where they'd be having their classes for the next few weeks. _It seems so fancy…_

As soon as they walked into the building, they were greeted by the art director who began speaking to them. Taro nudged Yuzu to get her attention. His usual grin on his face, as he looked to her. "Would you look at that? They show off the best artists work right away."

Yuzu's eyes followed to where he was pointing, and in front of them was a wall with a few pieces on it. One of her oil pastel paintings was front and center in the few on the wall. Her cheeks flared red just at the sight of it. Her eyes went back to Taro when she felt less warm. "You remembered my piece."

"I have a pretty good memory," Taro replied, his lopsided grin still on his face. "What? I take point to notice things about people that interest me."

That had Yuzu's face burn a million shades of red once again, as she turned away from him. "Let's go look around."

Taro moved to fall into step with her, as they trailed towards the back of their group. His eyes were focused on her as they walked.

Yuzu had noticed he was looking at her, and it was glowingly more and more distracting as they moved. "You're staring at me."

Showing no shame at being caught, Taro shrugged and just grinned his lopsided grin. "You know after we get settled in our apartments, there's going to be this party tonight."

"How do you already know that?" Yuzu asked, pushing her bangs out of her face, as she met his eyes. "We just got here."

"Unlike someone who likes to read by themselves while they are traveling, I like to socialize," Taro told her, nudging her a little, as he winked at her. "Lucky you got me around to find all this stuff out."

Yuzu smiled, as she let her hand drop down to rest on the strap of her bag. The idea of going to a party wasn't exactly something she would usually consider. She thought of all the other much more productive things she could be doing. However, just by looking at this guy, those thoughts disappeared. _Like Karin said earlier, I need to try new things._ "What time is the party?"

 **Four thirty, Karin's POV**

"Thank you so much," Karin told the cab driver cheerfully. Grabbing the handle of her suitcase, her hand hand remained on the strap of her other bag, and she walked down the busy street. However, she reached the corner of the center of the city, and she stopped. Her eyes wide. The buildings towered over her, and there were massive screens showing off advertisements all over the place. Taxi cabs were everywhere, and people were busy walking by. "Holy crap. This is really is New Luna City."

The awe of the environment around her was enough to have her pull her camera out of her bag. Taking a few pics around her just in time for the signal for the cross walk to change. Hurrying to put her camera away, she started off across the cross walk. Leaving her right outside the Stellar apartment complex. Her home for the next few weeks.

She followed the instructions in the email the program director sent, and she checked into her apartment with no problems. When she got to the floor her apartment was on, she found several of the doors open, and girls and guys were all over the place. Going in and out of rooms, or chatting in the halls. Offering smiles and a few hello's to people she passed, she finally made it to her apartment number at the end of the hall, 612. Like the other doors, the door to her apartment was open too. Walking in after a moment to see that there didn't appear to be anyone in there.

It was actually pretty nice. The living room was open and spacious, and there was even a little kitchen. However, the part that got her attention was the view. Walking over to the ceiling to floor length windows, her jaw dropped at the view. She could see a lot of the big square. Just watching the taxi's, the large screens changing, and the people walking as magical.

"It's pretty awesome isn't it?"

Hearing a voice to her left, Karin looked over to see a girl with long light blonde hair with purple streaks mixed in through the bottom layer of her hair. She had on this pastel green and white tank top, and jean shorts that were a lot shorter than Karin's usual athletic shorts. "Uh yeah. I love it, and I've only been in the main party of the city for maybe fifteen minutes. I've already taken tons of pictures."

"Same," Kimi started, a smirk on her face. "I'm Kimi, one of your roommates for the next few weeks."

"Uh, I'm Karin." Karin replied sort of awkwardly. She never really got along with many girls back at her school. The only ones being her soccer friends. Even then, they were a bit much sometimes.

Not acknowledging Karin's awkwardness, Kimi continued to smile. "You're the last one to arrive. I can show you your room if you want."

Karin nodded, as she moved towards Kimi. "Yeah, that'd be cool."

"Our other two roommates rooms are on the hall to the right, ours is the left," Kimi started, as they walked down the left hall. There were three doors. One on the left, one at the end of the hall, and one on the right. She pointed to the one on the right. "That's yours."

Opening the door, Karin studied the room as she walked in. It wasn't that bad. A full sized be, a vanity/dresser, some storage space around the bed, and a closet. Dropping her bag down on the vanity top, as she stopped her suitcase at the end of the bed. "This isn't that bad. I wasn't expecting much," she said, walking over to the windows, and pulling back the dark curtains. "These certainly block the light."

"Of course," Kimi replied, having remained standing by the door. "Your room is facing the square. With all those signs being lit up at night, I'm sure your room would be constantly lit up."

"Yeah, I wouldn't be able to sleep then. I have to have my room completely dark."

"Same… So we have to share a bathroom," Kimi started, then she waved her hand when Karin's eyes went to her. "But don't worry, I'm super chill about it. I don't mind if you leave anything in there."

"That's cool," Karin said, then she laughed when she thought of Yuzu. "I'm glad to share a bathroom with someone who's not going to be mad at me for leaving my hairbrush on the counter."

That made Kimi laugh. "Who gets mad over a little hair brush?"

"My sister," Karin replied, shaking her head at the thought. "She's all clean and organized, and I'm practically the opposite. We're twins, so we literally share almost everything, which leads to all sorts of problems."

"Whoa, you're a twin?" Kimi asked, seeing Karin nod. "Identical?"

"No thank god, I need something to be my own, and thankfully it's my face." Karin said, making them both laugh.

When their laughter died down, Kimi moved to motion to the bathroom door. "Well our bathroom is pretty spacious so we have room to leave all our belongings in there," she started, once again they both laughed. "Shower, bathtub, and two sinks. Lots of counter space."

Walking over, Karin peeked into the bathroom, and nodded. Then her eyes went to Kimi's room when she caught sight of the wall in there. "Whoa."

"Yeah, I like to nest." Kimi started, going to push open her door to allow Karin to walk in.

There were pictures all over the wall around the vanity in the room, with lights hung up on the wall, and she had a couple posters and knickknacks around the room. Karin appreciated all of it. "This is cool. You're into photography?"

"A little, I'm not the best," Kimi replied, holding up her camera. "I saved up for this camera for eight months. All my birthday money, and part of the money leftover from working for this trip. This trip was super expensive, and I had to pay for it all myself."

"I know the feeling. I worked two jobs to get here. The library, and at the rec center in my town," Karin said, laughing lightly, then looked to the camera. "I actually think I have the same camera. I think we had the same idea taking pictures from home. I brought some of my own pictures with me to put up."

"Can I see them?"

Karin nodded, then they returned back to her room. Pulling them out of her bag, she handed them over. "Now, they're not that spectacular, and a lot of them are of my niece."

"Oh she's precious," Kimi said, as her eyes sparkled, grabbing her phone and pulled up some pictures to show Karin. "My cousin just had a baby, and I'm obsessed with him."

"Yeah, my niece is only a couple weeks old, and I've done nothing but take pictures of her." Karin said, then she looks at Kimi and smiles. "I can't believe we're standing here fawning over baby pictures."

"But look at us," Kimi laughed, handing Karin her photos back. "We're getting along so well."

"Just wait until we start with music," Karin said, accepting her photos back. "I'm piano. I'm with the freshman group."

"Same," Kimi said, her eyes lighting up, as she crossed her arms. "What's your secondary?"

"Guitar," Karin replied, noticing that made Kimi's smile widen. "Shut up, you're guitar too?"

"Yep," Kimi confirmed, as she laughed. "We might as well be the same person."

"I don't know," Karin started, humming as she thought of some of her favorite things. "Sports?"

"I play softball," Kimi replied, then she got a smirk on her face. "Don't tell anyone, but I am actually a big fan of playing football."

That had Karin laughing. "Soccer for me, but damn. Football is fun too. What about TV shows?"

"Scandal is by far one of my favorites, but I think I just like anything by Shonda Rhimes. I hate drama in real life, but I certainly love watching it."

At that Karin raised an eyebrow. "Coffee?"

"Might as well replace my blood with it. I need it to get through life. I'm a night owl, but since I have to wake up early I hardly get any sleep. My parents wonder why I need to drink coffee. They don't want me drinking it, but I just try to sneak it past them."

Karin just stood there, her mouth ajar. "Where have you been all my life?"

Laughing at Karin's dramatic question, Kimi shrugged. "Karakura Town."

"Shut up, me too." Karin said, then she laughed. "You must have just gone to a different middle school. Where are you going to high school?"

"Karakura High," Kimi said, laughing at Karin's wide eyes. "Let's face it, we're clearly soul-mates, and need to be best friends immediately."

"Immediately," Karin confirmed laughing. Her ears picked up on the sound of chatter from the living room. "Roommates?"

"Yeah," Kimi nodded, and moved to walk out of Karin's room. "Let's go introduce you."

They walked in the living room to see a girl with her brunette hair in two braids, and another girl with long dark black straight hair. Both stopped talking to look over at Karin and Kimi.

"So we're a full apartment now?" The girl with the long black hair said, grinning as she offered her hand to Karin. "I'm Rose, and this is Naomi."

"Karin," Karin replied after shaking Rose's hand, as well as Naomi's. "I probably would have been here sooner if I didn't stop to take a thousand pictures every two minutes."

That had Naomi and Rose laughing. Naomi spoke up after their laughter died down. "Well you're here now. Just in time to get ready for the party tonight."

"Party?" Karin questioned, an eyebrow raised.

"Just a little welcome to the next few weeks of our lives type party," Naomi explained, as her eyes went to Rose. "We should make snacks, then we can all get ready out here in the living room together."

"Sounds good to me." Rose agreed with a nod of her head.

Karin frowned at the thought of food. "I haven't even had a chance to go grocery shopping yet. I totally forgot."

"Oh it's fine," Rose said, offering a smile as she and Naomi walked into the kitchen. "We've got it covered tonight. Maybe we can all go grocery shopping together tomorrow."

"That sounds good," Kimi said, hearing Naomi and Rose talk about cutting up some fruits for snacks. Her eyes went to Karin. "We can melt down some chocolate or peanut butter to dip our fruit in."

Karin stared at Kimi for a long moment. "Alright, I think I'm in love."

Kimi laughed back at Karin's words. "True love does exist."

That had them both laughing once again, before they moved to join Naomi and Rose in the kitchen.

 **Yuzu's POV, 9 o'clock that night**

Yuzu's eyes were busy eying some of the photographs on the wall. The party was being in held in one of the many housing buildings for the program. This particular building was supposed to be the building for anyone who was old enough to drink. Clearly there wasn't anyone enforcing that, as more than half the people at this party were underage.

That had Yuzu's eyes moving to the people around her, people her age drinking beer. Eying the group of girls that just passed her, and the clothes they were wearing. Then to her own clothes. They had checked into their rooms at six, and she spent nearly an hour in hers trying to figure out what she was going to wear to this party. She hadn't ever really been to a party before. So naturally she wasn't the slightest bit sure as what was acceptable to wear. Apparently her wardrobe wasn't really party material. But, lucky for her, a girl from the room across the hall from hers had come over to help her. Her name was Hinata, and she had a pretty good eye for fashion. Which said a lot considering the extremely limited options she had from Yuzu's clothes. It left Yuzu in the only pair of jeans she owned, and a red tank top that she would usually wear under another shirt. But Hinata insisted to just wear it on it's own.

"Hey Yuzu do you want anything?"

Yuzu's eyes went to the owner of the male voice that asked. It was Shin. The nice boy that Orihime had picked out for her back at the art gala. His boyish grin on his face. Shaking her head as she realized his offer was for a beer. "Not right now- uh thanks."

After Shin nodded and walked away, Hinata had leaned over. "You know it's okay. We're not going to get in trouble. That's the perk of having the wide age range of people here."

"I know, I just don't have a taste for it," Yuzu replied, as she brought her hands to rest on her bag she brought with her. Feeling slightly embarrassed about not drinking like her new friends, but she wasn't sure about it. Truthfully the only time she had a beer in her life, was a few sips from her dads, but he was there. She just didn't know if she was ready for anything more.

"That's fine," Hinata said, nodding her head, and smiled. Flicking her chestnut colored hair over her shoulder. "If you don't want it, there's plenty of other drinks to choose from."

Smiling back at Hinata, Yuzu's eyes went to sweep the rest of the party. While she herself had never been to a party, she knew Karin had. At the time, it was definitely a strange thing to hear her sister talk about her experience at a party. But, she just never asked her sister any further questions about it. In this moment, she wished she would have. That way she wouldn't be standing around not knowing what in the world to do.

"Yuzu!"

Hearing her name, Yuzu turned around, and found her eyes clashing with grey/green ones. Unable to help herself, she smiled lightly when he motioned for her to come over. Looking over to Hinata and Shin, who had just returned. "I'll be back."

"We'll be around." Hinata replied with a smile.

Yuzu moved across the crowded room, and made it over to where Taro was. Smiling at the sight of his lopsided grin appearing when she got close. "You called?"

Laughing, Taro crossed his arms over his chest, and shook his head at her. "Well how else was I supposed to get your attention? You were over there ignoring me."

"I was not-"

"Was to." Taro interrupted childishly sticking out his tongue at her.

That made Yuzu's smile grow. "I wasn't ignoring you. Maybe I was just waiting for you to be the one to step up."

At her sharp comeback, Taro laughed. "Well damn. Sorry to leave you waiting. I'll do better next time." His eyes focused on her, watching how that made her smile, but some guy doing a keg stand from across the room had caught her attention. She held an almost look of shock on her face. "I get the feeling that you haven't been to many parties."

"Try none," Yuzu replied honestly, as her eyes went back to Taro. "It just wasn't my thing."

"That's cool," was Taro's reply, as he nodded. "They probably didn't have any good parties anyways. But, on the bright side, you get to experience high school parties from now on. They're so much better especially when you get older."

Yuzu hummed after a moment, then she shook her head. "You know I'm not that much younger than you right?"

"You're fourteen, I'm sixteen-"

"I'm turning fifteen the week after next," Yuzu interrupted him, a smirk on her face. "And from what I saw when we were signing in at the institute, you just turned sixteen a few weeks ago. But what do I know? Maybe I'll figure it out when I get _older_."

That had Taro smirking right back at her, as he crossed his arms. "I stand corrected. You're not much younger than me, and you're also a little bit of a smart ass."

Yuzu laughed at his words. "Well as long as you know that."

"Hold on," Taro said, as he turned. He disappeared for a minute, then came back. Holding out a cup for her. "Can your almost fifteen-year-old self handle a beer?"

While Yuzu kept her smile on her face, her eyes went down to the cup. Unlike before, she didn't have any conflicting feelings about drinking. She didn't feel inexperienced. She didn't feel out of place. _I told myself earlier that I'm trying new things…_ She kind of felt like she was embodying her sister's confidence all of a sudden. Like her confident sister would do, she just reached over and grabbed the cup. Her eyes going to Taro. "Watch me."

* * *

 **A/N: And that's a wrap on the first chapter. I am really excited for this spin-off, and can't wait to see where it goes. I am still kind of figuring out how I'm going to lay out the story, as for many scenes in the story Karin and Yuzu are going to be separated. It's a work in progress. I was really excited to write the scene between Karin and her new roommate Kimi. That friendship will be a blast, I can go ahead and tell you that. I also really loved writing the scenes with Yuzu and Taro. It seems that Taro is a lot more outgoing and out there than Yuzu, but maybe that's a good thing. What are you all thinking? What's your impression of Taro? What do you want to see in this story?**

 **Don't forget to review, favorite, and share this story with others. Also be sure to check out my other stories.**

 **Be sure to like my page (Ruby1235 Fanfiction) on Facebook and follow me on twitter ( Ruby1235Fanfic) for updates, sneak peeks, and hints for current and new stories :)**

 **Also be sure to check out my blog: ruby1235fanfiction. blogspot .com (no spaces)**


	2. Life in a Cup

_Review:_

 _Yuzu laughed at his words. "Well as long as you know that."_

" _Hold on," Taro said, as he turned. He disappeared for a minute, then came back. Holding out a cup for her. "Can your almost fifteen-year-old self handle a beer?"_

 _While Yuzu kept her smile on her face, her eyes went down to the cup. Unlike before, she didn't have any conflicting feelings about drinking. She didn't feel inexperienced. She didn't feel out of place. She kind of felt like she was embodying her sister's confidence all of a sudden. Like her confident sister would do, she just reached over and grabbed the cup. Her eyes going to Taro. "Watch me."_

* * *

 **The next morning, the 5th of June**

Opening her eyes, Karin blinked a few times at the dark room. Looking over to the curtains, she could just barely see a little bit of sunlight through an open crack on one of them. Remaining in bed, she let her eyes go up to the ceiling. Her hair was still curled, her makeup was still on her face, and her head was slightly throbbing.

The party they went to last night was in some penthouse at one of the large apartment buildings in the city. One of the older kids in the program apparently had rich parents who didn't really care what he did, as long as he got good grades and did good in the program. The party started at nine, and they didn't come back here until around two in the morning. She only had a few beers, but for her that was enough to lead her to the headache she was experiencing this morning. Even with the headache, she still didn't regret last night. Her roommates and herself spent a lot of time dancing and talking about life things last night. That was definetely not something she usually would do, but it was actually a lot of fun.

Hearing a knock on her door, Karin groaned. "Yes?"

The door opened, and Kimi poked her head in. "Are you alive?"

"No," Karin replied, as she brought a hand up to her head. "I'm very much dead inside."

"Same," Kimi laughed, disappearing for a moment, then returning with two coffee mugs. She walked into Karin's room, still clad in her over large t-shirt that she had slept in, and held one of the coffee mugs out to Karin. "Life in a cup."

Karin sat up, and took the coffee mug. Taking a sip, she sighed happily, as she scooted over on the bed. "I'm already starting to live again," she said, eyeing Kimi's shirt that was from softball, she laughed, as she motioned to her own shirt. "We're like on person. Mine's from soccer. I purposely ordered it two sizes up just so I could have it to sleep in."

Kimi laughed as she noticed how they both matched. "Great minds think alike," she said, then she got up on Karin's bed, and sipped at her own coffee. "So I was thinking we should go ahead and plan out our day now. Because we have a lot to do, and know organizational skills."

That made Karin laugh, as she held up her phone. "If anything we can make an emergency call to my sister. She has her life together, and could probably straighten ours out too," she said, her eyes catching sight of the time on her phone, and they widened. "It's eight in the morning?"

"Yeah, which is weird because I'm usually not a morning person," Kimi said, watching Karin nod, she shrugged. "Well look at it this way. We have more time to get all of stuff done."

"That's true," Karin agreed after a moment, sipping at her coffee again. Setting her cup down, she reached over and grabbed a notebook and a pen from the bedside table beside her bed. "So first things first, an early morning coffee in our pajamas session... and maybe get in an episode of Grey's Anatomy before we actually do anything?"

"I'll set it up while you write." Kimi said, laughing as she set her coffee mug down on the bedside table, then she grabbed the remote that controlled the television.

"Okay, so we have the yoga close at ten. Which, as you say, I'm dragging you to against your will," Karin started, smirking at Kimi laughing. "Then we have to walk to the music hall for orientation at noon, lunch wherever at one thirty, our first lesson starts at three, our meetings with out private teachers go from five to six thirty, and then we will be done with that."

Kimi nodded, as she finished setting up Grey's Anatomy. "That's when we are going to come back here, meet up with Rose and Naomi, and go do responsible things like going grocery shopping."

"And do irresponsible things like going to a party tonight." Karin added, grinning as that made Kimi laugh along with her. Finishing their to do list, she looked at it. _Yuzu would be so proud. I should text her a picture of the list... Maybe I'll crop out the part about turning up at a party tonight._

 **Yuzu's POV, a couple hours later**

Groaning at the sound of her phone buzzing from another text message, Yuzu remained laying still in her bed, as she opened her eyes slowly. She knew she had slept past her alarm, as she kept hitting the snooze button. After another moment of laying there, she reached over, and grabbed her phone. However, she wasn't expecting it to be ten thirty in the morning. Sitting straight up, she had to stop at the aching headache she had.

Looking down at her phone again, the first text message that popped up was from Karin. _8 a.m.? How did she get up so early?_ She opened the attachment to find a picture of a very neat looking to do list.

 _Karin: Look at me, making a to-do list Yuzu Kurosaki style._

Laughing at that, Yuzu shook her head, as she scrolled through other texts. _My own to-do list is practically toast since I woke up four hour later than I usually do. I didn't think I hit the snooze button that many times. How many times can I hit it before the alarm stops? Or did I turn the alarm off without realizing it?_

With that thought in her head, Yuzu finished skimming other text messages, and her eyes focused on the wall across from her bed. _I should get up._ Even as she thought that, she dropped her phone on her bed, and laid back down. Moving a pillow over her eyes to block on the light coming in from the windows. She had almost drifted back to sleep, but her phone buzzing repeatedly got her attention. Thinking it was Karin calling, she answered groggily. "Hello?"

" _Hey girl, it's Hinata," the chirpy sounding voice of her across the hall neighbor was heard. "Yoga class in ten minutes, wanna come?"_

"Yoga?" Yuzu questioned slowly, then she yawned. "Is that a thing actual people do? I thought it was just my sister who was going through the yoga phase."

" _Yes it's an actual thing," Hinata replied laughing. "You in?"_

Hesitating for a moment, Yuzu finally sighed. "Yeah, give me five minutes. I'll meet you in the hall."

"Sounds good." Hinata said, then hung up the phone.

Once the call was ended Yuzu sat there for a long moment. Finally getting up, she went straight for the Tylenol, slipped on some yoga pants and a t-shirt, and more slowly put on her shoes. Eying her room. Each student was given their own room and bathroom. There was a community kitchen and living room on each floor. Her own room was decorated with a few of her drawings. It was a work in progress. Once she finished with her shoes, she moved to the door. Opening it to see Hinata all ready to go, and clearly in a lot better shape than Yuzu herself was. "Hey."

Hinata, who smiled as they started walking down the hall, eyed Yuzu up and down. "You seem like you just woke up."

"That's because I did," Yuzu replied, then she rubbed her temples. "I have a massive headache. I've never really drank like I did last night. I've only had a few sips here and there. But never a full beer. Let alone two and a half of them. I'm apparently very much a lightweight."

"I'm not exactly the most experienced when it comes to parties or drinking, but that's okay. We're only fifteen. Well you're almost fifteen," Hinata said before she laughed. "I feel like I've learned from the few times I did drink I kind of learned how much I could handle. Which is really not that much. Like at most I'll drink three beers, but if I want to be sure to avoid getting a hangover or get drunk I'm very careful with eating and drinking water in between all the beer. Spacing them out helps to. I think you just drank one after the other."

"I'll have to keep that in mind for next time," Yuzu groaned here, as she looked to Hinata. They walked off the elevator, and she waited until they were outside and walking to the recreation building. "Did you get the text about another party tonight?"

Hinata nodded, as she sighed. "Yeah. We're really going to need to power up if we're going to make it through tonight."

They walked into the rec building, and to the room where the yoga class was. Yuzu laughing. "Ha, you're telling me. I might actually have to take a nap to prepare… I haven't had time to take a nap in years. And I'll have time to take it. We have so much free time. Like literally the only thing we have to do today is attend a lecture, and a one hour free draw. The rest of the twenty-one hours in the day are ours."

They just got their yoga mats out when Hinata noticed Yuzu getting a text message, and smiling. "So who's that guy from yesterday? He was cute."

"Oh it's not like that," Yuzu replied right away, but paused at the thought. Shaking her head after a moment, she sat down on the yoga mat. "We're just friends. I met him back at home, and we both ended up going on this trip together. He just wanted to get to know me a bit I guess… I'm sorry about leaving you and Shin hanging."

"No worries," Hinata smiled as she waved her hand. "We have plenty of time to hang out." She winked at Yuzu, after noticing the instructor walking in the room. "Besides if I were you, and that cute guy wanted my attention, I wouldn't want to say no."

That made Yuzu's cheeks flare red, but nothing more was said as the instructor got their attention to start the class. She had a hard time paying attention as all she could think about was Taro… In that way now.

 **A couple days later, 7th of June, Yuzu's POV**

Laughing along with her friends, Yuzu was almost crying because she was laughing so hard. Finally able to control herself after a moment, she had to wipe under her eyes. "And that's what I get for trying to do a handstand."

"But at least you're practicing what we learn in class," was Hinata's optimistic voice, from where she was sitting up on her bed. Braiding her chestnut brown hair. "We've gone two days in a row, and I'd say we're definitely going to have to keep doing it. It's been so helpful in relaxing. I feel so chill all the time now."

"I did too until I just nearly bruised my butt." Was Yuzu's reply, getting them all to laugh again.

"You almost had it," the voice of their new friend Yukio was heard from where he was sitting over on the ground with Shin. He had spiky black hair, and played sports. "She almost had it, she just needed to tighten her core a bit more to stay steady." After saying that, he got up himself, and did a handstand right there.

"Dude why do you know how to do that?" Shin asked, raising an eyebrow at Yukio remaining holding the handstand. "Do you got to these yoga classes too?"

Kicking his feet back down, Yukio smirked as he moved to sit back down. "Nah, it's just years and years of playing all the sports I do. I've got the strength to do it, and sometimes my coach has us do them to help during strength training."

Yuzu rolled over on her stomach, and grabbed her phone. "I'm not a participating in sports kind-of-person."

"What sports do you play Yukio?" Hinata asked, finished with her braid, and smiling over at him.

"Soccer, basketball, and baseball. I also do wrestling, but that's more of a hobby than one of my main activities," Yukio replied, smirking at the raised eyebrows he got from the others. "Yeah I know it's a lot, but just image how all that's going to look on my college application in a few years."

Yuzu's phone buzzing in her hands got her attention away from the conversation. Seeing it was from Taro, she clicked on it quickly to pull up the message.

 _Taro: Hey, what are you doing right now?_

 _Yuzu: Nothing really. Just hanging out with some of my friends._

 _Taro: You wanna come out here?_

Yuzu hesitated at the thought of another party. Frowning, she started to type back.

 _Yuzu: I don't know. I think I'm all partied out after the last three nights of parties._

Taro: No, not to a party. I'm out on the green.

The green was one of the large fields that wasn't far from the resident buildings. Separating them from the forest. That's were a lot of their friends would hang out during the day.

 _Yuzu: Be there in a few minutes._

"Where are you going?"

Yuzu had sat up to grab her shoes when Hinata questioned her. Starting to put on her shoes, Yuzu's eyes met Hinata's. "Taro invited me to go out to the green. He said the stars are pretty cool. I'm thinking I might get some inspiration for my painting for class."

While Hinata clearly knew that's not why Yuzu was going out there, she just grinned at her friend. "Sounds like fun. Going to look for _inspiration_ that is."

Laughing off the suggestive hint in Hinata's tone, Yuzu stood up, and grabbed her bag. "Hinata, we've only known each other for four days, but you know me so well."

"I try." Hinata replied with a laugh.

Shin and Yukio shared a look, then Shin's eyes went to Hinata. "I don't get it. She's just going out to look at the stars. Why do you two make it sound like that's not what she's doing?"

Yukio gasped dramatically before the girls could speak. "Yuzu, are you a secret drug dealer?" He questioned, making them all crack up laughing. "I mean if you are, that's cool. I'm not going to judge."

Shaking her head, Yuzu moved to the door. "No, I'm not a secret drug dealer… Even if I was, I wouldn't tell." She said, before laughing and turning to open the door. "I'll see you all tomorrow."

Leaving Hinata's room, she crossed the hall to her own, to toss her bag inside. Keeping her phone with her, she took off down the hall, and went down the elevator to the main floor. Leaving the building and walking for a couple minutes, she finally made it to the green. It didn't take her long to find Taro. She stopped a couple feet away from him, and looked up at the starry sky. "It's pretty amazing."

Taro's eyes moved up to her from where he was laying down. His arms back behind his head. "It's even better from down here."

Yuzu moved so she was lying back on the grass next to him. Her eyes moving back up to the sky. Taro was right. The way the moon seemed to be settling above the tree line, and how the stars lit up the sky was almost magical. Taking out her phone she snapped a few pictures of it.

"What are you doing?"

"I might want to paint this soon." Yuzu replied, finishing taking her pictures, and putting her phone back down.

That put a big grin on Taro's face. "So I'm basically aiding in you creating one of your next famous masterpieces?"

Laughing, Yuzu's eyes moved over to him. "I guess so..." She trailed off as she focused back up on the sky. "You'll get the first look after I'm done. To make sure I did it right."

"That's all I ask." Taro replied, making them both laugh again.

Once Yuzu's laughter died down, her eyes went to the moon. _This is amazing. The sky is beautiful, and I get to share it with my ne_ _w friend… I didn't expect this was how my art program was going to go. Back home, whenever I would go to the art studio it was all just me. Then I go to this program, only four days in, and I've made some amazing friends._ Her eyes slid back over to Taro again. _Yeah, they're pretty amazing._

 **The next morning, Karin's POV**

"It's six a.m.," Karin started, pouring two cups of coffee. "I can't believe we stayed up all night."

"I guess it was just necessary to binge watch How To Get Away With Murder for the third time," Kimi replied, making both girls laugh. She accepted her cup of coffee from Karin after the girl had put creamer in it. "Life in a cup."

"If you said that to anyone else, they would be so confused," Karin said, as they both laughed. Taking a sip of her own coffee, she turned back to the stove. She was actually the one cooking, as they had decided to make an early breakfast. "This is so rare for me to be the one cooking. Back home it was always Yuzu who was always cooking."

"Well you're a pretty good cook for someone who doesn't ever cook." Kimi said, sipping her coffee, as she scrolled through her instagram feed. It was full of pictures from her new friends she made. Several of which were from either her or Karin, and their adventures from the past few days.

That made Karin smirk, as she looked back at Kimi. "Thanks. I'm just trying to impress my soulmate."

"Well I'm impressed." Kimi replied, making them both laugh.

Waiting for the bacon to cook more, Karin looked down at her own phone. Clicking on Ryuu's name, which was surprisngly not the top person as to who recently texted her. Back home he was always at the top. She had texted him the morning before, and talked a bit, but he hadn't really said anything else to her. Even when she texted him last night about how his Summer soccer team was going. Sighing after a moment, she turned her phone off. _He's probably just busy._

Kimi noticed Karin's sigh, and raised an eyebrow. "What's that sigh for?"

Hesitating for a moment, Karin's eyes met Kimi's. "My boyfriend-"

"Oooo," Kimi interrupted, her eyes lighting up. "We have a boyfriend? What's his name?"

Laughing at that, Karin pulled up a picture of him on her phone to show her. "His name is Ryuu. Like me, he plays soccer. That's actually what got us together in the first place."

"How long have you been dating?"

"It was February 16th when he officially asked me out, but it was around January when we first got interested in one another," Karin replied, smiling at the thought. "It'll be four months this month."

Eyeing the picture for another moment, Kimi finally returned Karin's phone back to her. "He's cute... So why the sigh?"

"I just miss him," Karin said, turning back to the stove to flip the bacon. "It's only been four days, not including today. Which I think I'm totally crazy for being that way. I'm not one of those girls."

"I don't see a problem with you missing him. I'm guessing you two spent almost every school day together since you started dating, and probably time on the weekends," Kimi started, seeing Karin nod, she continued. "You went from seeing him almost everyday to not at all. Plus you know it'll be another three weeks before you will be home to see him again too."

Karin sighed after Kimi said that, and turned back to her after she flipped the bacon. "I just hope I won't turn into one of those girls who can't be without her boyfriend for more than five seconds. I mean it's fine if they do it, but that's not how I want to be."

Laughing, Kimi shook her head, then sipped her coffee. "Don't worry, I'll let you know when you reach that point."

"Thanks," Karin said, as she grabbed plates for the already finished pancakes she did. Then she grabbed some fruit and whip cream to go along with it. "I don't know what's gotten into me. I usually eat sugary cereals for breakfast, but these past few days I've been eating oddly healthy."

"That's a good thing," Kimi pointed out, as she opened the fruit container once Karin sat it down. "We need to try to eat better if we're going to stay in shape for our sports."

Karin frowned, and had an almost pout appear on her face. "But I like pizza... and nachos."

"Mmmhmm," Kimi hummed at the thought. "Nachos would be so good right now. Maybe for lunch. Then we can have pizza for dinner."

"So much for eating healthy," Karin said, making them both laugh. She decorated her pancake with fruit and whip cream before sighing happily. "This is the best. I'm not just saying that because I'm sleep deprived either. We got to party the first two nights back, then the the past two nights it's just been us and Rose and Naomi hanging out. I've never really hung out with girls that much. I get along better with guys usually."

Kimi nodded in agreement, as she took the whip cream Karin offered her. "It has been a lot of fun. And to think we came here just expecting to be doing nothing but non-stop music related things."

"I'm glad we've had the free time," Karin said, then she rolled her eyes. "I mean I need a good long break after having music class with the wicked witch."

Laughing at the nickname she and Karin had made up for the teacher for their lecture class. "Yeah, I think we probably made a bad first impression in her class. That's probably why she hates us."

"Well we were talking about the lesson, so I don't know why she got so mad," Karin said, then she sighed. "At least I like our other teachers. Plus the private teacher is really cool too."

Kimi grinned, as she nodded in agreement. "We'll just suffer through the wicked witch's class, and be rewarded by all the other amazing people here."

"Yeah," Karin agreed, then she took the first bite of her pancake. Everything together was incredible. "Oh this is so good."

* * *

 **A/N: So the second chapter of this spin-off is down. I'm still working on a balance out of the chapters. I think from here on out, I'm going to trade out who has more of a dominant presence in each chapter when it comes to scene amount. I really enjoyed writing this chapter. My favorite scene we when Taro and Yuzu were out on the green, but I also like the early morning scene with Karin and Kimi both in the beginning of the chapter and the end. What was your favorite scene?**

 **Don't forget to review, favorite, and share this story with others. Also be sure to check out my other stories.**

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 **Also be sure to check out my blog: ruby1235fanfiction. blogspot .com (no spaces)**


	3. A Hollow on the Green

_Review:_

 _Kimi grinned, as she nodded in agreement. "We'll just suffer through the wicked witch's class, and be rewarded by all the other amazing people here."_

 _"Yeah," Karin agreed, then she took the first bite of her pancake. Everything together was incredible. "Oh this is so good."_

* * *

 **The next day, 9** **th** **of June, Yuzu's POV**

Having just finished up their art class, it was a little past two in the afternoon. Yuzu and her friends were some of the last in the class. Hinata was talking about them going to sit in on a seminar a guest lectuerer was giving a few rooms down from their classroom. "She's this really amazing artist, and I think we could use some inspiration."

"I'll say," Yukio started in agreement, then he sighed. "I have no idea where my piece is going for this class, and I really need to find some inspiration fast."

"Well if you weren't out at parties every single night since we got here, that might help you," Hinata replied, like usual was braiding her hair. "You stay out so late that you don't have time to do it in the evening. Then you drink so much that you don't do anything the next morning."

"I think he's just enjoying his time," Shin said, shaking his head at Hinata. "There's nothing wrong with that."

"What do you think Yuzu?" Hinata asked, her eyes going over to Yuzu who was collecting her pencils, and putting her sketch book in her bag.

"Well I don't know if has anything to do with the partying," Yuzu replied, as she focused on her friends. Offering a smile to Yukio. "Maybe you're just having trouble finding that right idea. Who knows? Maybe a party will inspire you."

High fiving Yuzu as he grinned, Yukio started to gather his own materials. "This is why we're friends Yuzu. You got my back, unlike these two over here."

"Hey," Shin said, as he held up a hand. "I'm not taking sides."

"Tch," Hinata started with an eye roll. "Yuzu just tends to to think on the positive side, but that doesn't mean that we don't laugh at how ridiculous you can get after a few beers. She's just being nice like she usually is."

"There's nothing wrong with that," Shin put in after Hinata stopped tlaking, his eyes meeting Yuzu's, as he offered her a smile. "So are you coming with us to the seminar?"

"Yeah sure..." Yuzu trailed off, as she caught sight of movement through the window in the door. Catching sight of a paint splattered hat, followed with the sight of grey/green eyes, she smiled. "Actually, on second thought, I'd really like to go back to my room for a bit."

"Okay that's cool." Shin replied with a shrug.

Hinata, however, had noticed what Yuzu had in the hall. Taking Yuzu by the arm, they walked away from the guys to the sinks in the room. Stopping, she reached to grab a paper towel and wet it before bringing it to Yuzu's face. "You have some charcoal smudged on your face. Oh and take your hair down."

"Okay," Yuzu said, taking her hair down and allowing Hinata to clean the charcoal off her face. Her eyes met her friends. "How did you-"

"I know what he looks like now just as much as you do," Hinata interrupted, smiling at Yuzu, as she winked. "You two have fun. Oh and don't forget to take off your smock."

Taking off her smock, Yuzu smiled at her friend. "What would I do without you?"

"Have fun." Was all Hinata said back, as she finished cleaning off Yuzu's face.

Yukio's eyes went to Yuzu when she and Hinata walked back over. "So what do you plan on doing and for how long? I only ask because there is another party tonight."

"I might take a nap actually." Yuzu replied, grabbing her bag and shoving her smock in there.

"It's kinda funny," Shin started, laughing lightly. "You have taken a nap almost everyday on this program so far. Back at home, you wouldn't even consider a nap."

"Well maybe that's because here I'm staying up until midnight or later everynight, and not getting enough sleep," Yuzu replied, laughing as she got close to the door. She paused to turn back to look at them. "Or maybe I just realized that I was a crazy person back then, and naps are a wonderful thing."

While that had her friends laughing, Yuzu waved goodbye and walked out of the room. Feeling her phone buzz in her hand, she looked down to it as she walked out of the room. It was a picture of Mina from Orihime.

"Hey."

Hearing Taro's voice, Yuzu looked up from the phone, and smiled when their eyes met. "Hey," she said, noticing his eyes going down to her phone. "It's my niece."

"Ah," Taro said, as they started walking down the hall. "So you're going to go take a nap?"

Texting Orihime back how cute Mina was, Yuzu put her phone away, and her eyes went back to Taro. "I just said that so I'd have an excuse to not go to see the guest lecturer."

"So you could come hang out with me instead?" Taro questioned, his lopsided grin appearing at her nod. They reached the glass doors, and he opened one to let her walk through first. "Well I feel special."

Yuzu laughed as they started towards the green. "A nap does sound kinda nice though."

"How can you possibly be tired?" Taro asked her, nudging her as they walked. "You slept until almost noon, and I know you were asleep by at least 2 in the morning because that's when I dropped you off back at your room."

"And you know that how exactly? Maybe I didn't sleep until noon. Maybe I woke up early." Yuzu said, as they stopped at their spot on the green.

"Because," Taro said, holding up his phone. "You didn't answer my text until almost noon."

"Hmm," Yuzu hummed, as she set her bag down. "Maybe I was ignoring you."

Taro watched Yuzu as she sat down on the grass, a growing grin on his face. "Now that would hurt my feelings."

Yuzu laughed at his words, and shook her head before she laid back on the grass. "I'm just kidding. I did wake up at almost noon. I just don't want to admit that, because that is so unlike me."

"How so?" Taro questioned, as he sat down beside her.

"Back at home my life is scheduled and organized perfectly. I wake up really early, and go to bed early. Everything I do is somehow following the rules."

Taro's grin turned to a smirk at that. "Well I hate to break it to you, but I would say that you've broken a few rules since we got here."

"Maybe one or two," Yuzu said, smiling back at Taro's smirk. "I would have to say I wouldn't be staying out partying and drinking until two a.m. this time last week."

"You're just having fun, there's nothing wrong with that," Taro said, as he laid back. His eyes up on the sky before looking to Yuzu. "This is about the time you take a picture of the sky."

"Right, how could I forget?" Yuzu countered, pulling out her phone, and clicking on her camera. However, the screen popped up facing them, and it caught both their faces making her laugh. "Oh I hate when it does that-"

"Wait," Taro interrupted, bring his hand up to hers to keep her from flipping the camera around. "We need a picture."

"We do?" Yuzu questioned, looking over at him.

"Yeah," Taro told her, clicking the photo button for her, smirking as she didn't realize he had done it. "I need you to send one to me after you take it. That way I can have proof that I knew you before you were famous."

Laughing at his words, Yuzu looked up to her camera. His hand still partially held hers and the phone. "Okay, smile for the camera," she said, taking a few pictures of them, she laughed at the last one where he stuck out his tongue. "Enough picture taking, let's watch some clouds."

 **Karin's POV at 9 p.m.**

Sitting down on the couch next to Kimi, Karin's eyes went from her to Rose and Naomi on another couch, and another two girls in the two arm chairs near them. Those girls were about three years older than them, but Rose had made friends with them over the past few days. They had been talking about colleges which seemed boring and un-party-like to Karin at first. But she tried to make herself pay attention to it anyways.

"Yeah, this program will look great on college applications."

Karin's eyes went to the older blonde girl who said that, and raised an eyebrow. "Really? It's just a simple music program."

The older blonde raised an eyebrow. "Just a simple music program?"

The other older girl with short brunette spiky hair spoke up then. "This program is extremely hard to get into, let alone be able to come back again, four years in a row myself. On top of that, the people who teach here if you have them as some of your references it looks even better."

Karin turned to face Kimi to whisper to her. "Is this program really that big of a deal?"

Kimi nodded in return. "Yeah, I mean they send out scouts all over the place, but only a select few ever get accepted in here without application in the first place. You were one of the lucky ones."

"Oh..." Karin trailed off, as her thoughts took over. _Is it really that big of a deal?_ Her eyes moved to the older girls again. "Have you done college tours yet?"

Both the girls nodded. "Of course," the blonde started, running her fingers through her hair. "I've actually already taken classes at the one I plan to go to. Half college classes, have high school classes. During my junior year that is. My senior year will be full of college classes, and only one class at my high school."

"Is that really a thing?" Rose questioned, an eyebrow raised. "To be able to start taking college classes in high school?"

Naomi nodded. "Yeah, my older brother did it. It kind of just varies school to school though."

The older brunette haired girl moved to stand up. "Yeah, I found out that it gave me an edge in college. I've already got 18 credit hours, and my first official semester doesn't start until August," she said, her eyes going to her friend. "I'm grabbing another beer, want one?"

The blonde nodded, and after her friend walked off she pulled out her phone. Kimi, Naomi, and Rose started chatting about where they'd like to go to college. Karin's eyes were focused up on the ceiling for a long moment, then she finally looked back at the older blonde girl. "Tell us more about the colleges you've toured."

 **Almost midnight, Yuzu's POV**

"Here we are," Taro started, as he opened the door, and let Yuzu walk in ahead of him. "My sort of disorganized room."

Laughing as she walked in, Yuzu looked around his room. It actually wasn't that bad. She's seen Karin's side of their shared room ten times worse. Her eyes moved up to focus on some of his drawings and paintings on the wall. "I like those."

"Thanks," Taro said, having gone and sat down on his bed after kicking off his shoes. Watching her as she was observing his paintings. After another moment, he smirked. "You can sit down you know? I don't bite."

"I know that." Yuzu replied, setting her bag down, before sitting on the bed beside him. Resting her hands back, as she looked out the window. Her eyes went to him when he pulled out a vape, she raised an eyebrow at him.

"Want to?" Taro asked when he noticed her watching him.

"No thanks I'm good." Yuzu replied, watching him open the window after that to blow the smoke outside. "So what are we doing?"

"I'm thinking that we can watch a movie," Taro replied, focusing back on her, as he slipped his vape in his pocket. "Or if you don't want to stay that long, we can just hang out for a bit."

"A movie sounds good to me," Yuzu replied, watching as he nodded and grabbed the remote to his TV. "I hardly watched movies back home."

"Let me guess," Taro started, pausing to look at her. "It was because you were too busy?"

That had Yuzu laughing at his accuracy. "I just had so many things going on in my day that I never had the time. I liked to stay busy."

"And now?" Taro countered.

"I think I'm slowly starting to realize it's actually pretty nice to take time to just doing nothing." Yuzu replied with a smile.

"You get it from me. Doing nothing is my specialty," Taro said, moving to get up from the bed. Grinning at her laughter. Grabbing some soda's from his mini fridge, he handed her one, then set his own down on his bedside table. "I'll be back, you can pick out the movie."

"Okay," Yuzu replied, as Taro walked into what appeared to be bathroom. Opening and taking a sip out of the soda he gave her, Yuzu set it down, and started to look through movies. After a moment her phone buzzed, and it was a picture from Orihime. She smiled at the picture of Mina fast asleep in one of the onesies Yuzu had bought her. Saving the picture, she got distracted again as she went through the pictures from that day. Her smile widened at the sight of her pictures with Taro on the green. Pausing on the first of their pictures, she raised an eyebrow. It was one where she was looking at him instead of the camera. She guessed Taro took if, as she didn't remember taking that one. Carefully observing the way she was looking at Taro in the phone had brought on a tingling feeling inside of her.

The bathroom door opened, and out walked Taro. Once again smoking his vape. Yuzu quickly swiped her camera app away, and locked her phone. Setting in her lap, she she smiled at him. "Bad news. I got distracted and didn't pick out a movie."

"That's alright," Taro said, as he got up on the bed, and blew the smoke out of the window. Sitting down beside Yuzu he grabbed the remote. "I got this. Speed round of picking a movie is a go."

Laughing, Yuzu shook her head, and grabbed her soda. "You crack me up."

It wasn't until they were actually watching the movie that all the movement kind of stopped, and Yuzu finally let herself relax. She had been focusing completely on the movie until Taro put his arm around her shoulders. The way he did it was so casual, but it seemed like a much bigger deal to Yuzu herself. She felt that tingling feeling again, but instead of moving away, she just relaxed. A smile on her face, as they continued watching the movie like it was just a normal night.

 **A couple days later, 11th of June, Karin's POV**

Kicking her soccer ball ahead of herself, Karin smiled as she ran to catch up to it. Having missed doing that, she had gone out to the outer edges of the city to kick the ball around with less people around to bother her. She had actually started all the way back in her apartment building, but ended up out here without realizing how far she was going. Now that she was out here, she enjoyed the view of the ocean she had. It was relaxing enough for her thoughts to go back to something that had been on her mind lately. College. It might not actually be as bad, as she had once thought. After talking to those two older girls, they made it sound like it was pretty cool actually. _Could I see myself going to college? I don't-_

Her thoughts were caught short when she got a strong sense of a hollow nearby. A lot more intense than usual, but she didn't really have time to reflect on why that was. Her eyes caught sight of the hollow, and realized it was following her as she walked. _What the hell?_ Without hesitation, she took grabbed her soccer ball, and took off running. Trying to get to a place that was less populated so the hollow couldn't hurt anyone.

 _What can I do?_ She thought to herself, as she ran. Her thoughts went to a couple situations back at home where she had used her soccer ball against hollows. She wasn't sure if it'd work, but at this point she didn't have a choice. She was nearing the best opportunity to take it on. Without much more thought, she spun around, and kicked the soccer ball at the hollow. All while thinking about putting as much force as she could into the kick.

She wasn't quite sure how, but as soon as the ball had made contact with the hollow it was gone. The soccer ball dropping to the ground, a trail of smoke coming from it. Staring at it in the middle of the street for a long moment with wide eyes. Feeling her heart racing inside her chest. _That was..._

Grabbing her soccer ball, she started running back to her apartment building. The originally twenty minute walk here was cut in half with how quickly she was running. Taking the stairs instead of the elevator, she had to calm herself down before entering her apartment. It was quiet at first, but Kimi appeared out of the hall their bedrooms were off of.

"Where have you been?"

"Uh soccer." Karin replied shortly, as she went back to her room to drop her soccer ball in her closet. Feeling her hands shaking, she tried to keep them busy by picking up her messy room.

Kimi appeared at the doorway, and raised an eyebrow at Karin's odd behavior. She noticed her hands were shaking. "Why are you all hyped up?"

At Kimi's words, Karin stopped her busy cleaning, and her eyes met Kimi's. "You know what? That shopping trip you were talking about this morning, let's take it now."

"You know we have a seminar tonight at eight right?"

"It'll be fine."

"It's five o'clock now, and with traffic, I highly doubt-"

"You're right," Karin interrupted her friend, as she went back to cleaning then. "Let's just skip it. I can just do yoga or something."

Kimi was quiet for a moment, then finally shook her head. "I'll call for an uber, and you go change. Whatever is going on, you clearly need some retail therapy."

Once again, Karin stopped her cleaning. This time to sit down on her bed, as she sighed. "Thank you."

 **Five o'clock, Yuzu's POV**

Walking onto the green, Yuzu planned on getting some sketches done to pass the time. Taro was in class, and her other friends were all busy working on their assignments for their class later today. She had already finished the assignment herself, so she just needed to pass time until the class started at six. Finding herself at the spot she and Taro liked to sit at, she smiled at the thought of the times they had been out here together.

Her smile was cut short when something strange caught her eye. Turning her head to focus directly on it, it looked just like one of the hollows that attacked her, Orihime, Karin, and Rin at the end of April. Just the memory of that day brought on a sense of fear. Her eyes focused in on the other people on the green. Even though she was scared, she felt the need to protect them. After realizing the hollow following her specifically, she started running off the green. Afraid to turn around to make sure it was following her, she just kept on running.

It wasn't until she started to tone in on the sense of the hollow behind her that she realized how close it was getting. She had made it away from the green, and was pretty far away from the buildings around the institute's property by then. Realizing she wasn't going to be able to run away from the hollow, she began to feel almost helpless. She didn't know what to do, and knew it'd catch up soon. Finally she just stopped, squeezed her eyes shut, and waited for it to happen. But nothing did. No longer able to sense the hollow had her opening her eyes.

Hearing footsteps behind her, she remained frozen for a long moment. Even though she was still afraid, she finally made herself turn around. She wasn't prepared for who's eyes she met. The bright green and blue streaks in the person's black hair wasn't out of the ordinary for the very familiar face. "What are you doing here?"

* * *

 **A/N: Who's the person Yuzu's talking about? It is a character that you should recognize from the Reason :)**

 **Of course I have to bring in some hollows to the story. It wouldn't be a Bleach fanfiction if I didn't haha. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. My favorite scene was the first scene with Yuzu and Taro out on the green. What was your favorite scene?**

 **Don't forget to review, favorite, and share this story with others. Also be sure to check out my other stories.**

 **Be sure to like my page (Ruby1235 Fanfiction) on Facebook and follow me on twitter ( Ruby1235Fanfic) for updates, sneak peeks, and hints for current and new stories :)**

 **Also be sure to check out my blog: ruby1235fanfiction. blogspot .com (no spaces)**


	4. Aye Aye Captain

_Review:_

 _Realizing she wasn't going to be able to run away from the hollow, she began to feel almost helpless. She didn't know what to do, and knew it'd catch up soon. Finally she just stopped, squeezed her eyes shut, and waited for it to happen. But nothing did. No longer able to sense the hollow had her opening her eyes._

 _Hearing footsteps behind her, she remained frozen for a long moment. Even though she was still afraid, she finally made herself turn around. She wasn't prepared for who's eyes she met. The bright green and blue streaks in the person's black hair wasn't out of the ordinary for the very familiar face. "What are you doing here?"_

* * *

 **Continued on, Yuzu's POV**

It was quiet for a moment after Yuzu's question, then the other person shook their head. "Tatsuki and I are visiting some friends from her karate competitions. The real question is: What's going on here with you?"

"I didn't know you'd be here," Yuzu started at first, pausing to swallow the lump in her throat. "I don't know what to say about what just happened Akira."

Akira studied Yuzu for a long moment in silence. "It seemed to me like the hollow was attracted to you."

"It's probably nothing out of the ordinary." Yuzu replied, waving off Akira's words.

"I don't know-"

"It's just a random thing." Yuzu interrupted quickly, as she forced a smile on her face. "No big deal."

Once again Akira was quiet, then she finally shrugged. "Maybe you're right. I'll be in this area for another week maybe. If you need anything, text or call me. Even then, it would take no time for me to get to you. Just let me know."

"Will do," Yuzu said with a nod, but reached over to stop Akira from walking away. "Please don't tell Ichigo or my dad about any of this. They would worry."

"I think since it was such a minor thing, there is nothing really to tell if you think about it. You just happened to be here when I got rid of a hollow." Akira said after a moment. She winked at Yuzu before she turned and left.

Watching Akira walk off for a long moment, Yuzu continued to have this sinking feeling in her stomach. She started walking numbly back to the direction of the institute. She didn't realize it at first, but she must have ran pretty far from the institute's property, as she could barely see the buildings in the distance. Wind moving by had her hair in her face, and when she moved to push it back she realized just how much she was shaking. The feeling of fear still moved through her, and didn't appear to be going anywhere.

Her phone buzzing in her pocket got her attention. Pulling it out to see it was from Shin. Staring at the phone for a long moment, she finally clicked on the message.

 _Shin: I'm meeting Hinata and Yukio for a quick bite at the diner before class. Do you want to come with us?_

Clicking the reply button, Yuzu started to type that she would just meet them in the class, but stopped before hitting send. Thinking about it for a moment, she shook her head. Erasing what she had typed, she typed a new message.

 _Yuzu: I'll meet you guys there._

Locking her phone, she changed her direction a little to start towards the cafe. She decided that she needed to distract herself as much as possible. That way she could put this whole thing behind herself, and move on with the rest of her program. With that decision made, she focused forward, and picked up her pace. Leaving the thought of what just happened behind.

 **Karin's POV, 9:30 p.m.**

Walking out of their seminar class, Karin and Kimi chatted away as they started down the side walk in the direction of their apartment building. Karin was laughing at the thought of their almost late arrival to their seminar class. "We just barely made it back in time for class after our shopping trip.

"It was worth the rushing around we had to do," Kimi said, her eyes looking Karin up and down, a big smirk on her face. "You clearly needed it."

Laughing at the thought of how it must appeared to Kimi when she showed up all jittery. "Sorry about that. I was just bugging out over something silly. But it's all good now."

"Apparently," Kimi replied, as they crossed a street. Her eyes going to Karin, as she smirked. "I thought I'd never see you be actually excited to go into a clothing store."

That brought a grin to Karin's face. "I must have been desperate for a distraction."

Almost ten minutes later they were back at their apartment. Karin was pulling her hair up out of her face, as she left her room. Dressed in her usual pajamas, a larger t-shirt and for now a pair of comfortable shorts underneath. Walking into Kimi's room, she had her head down, as she was holding her phone between her chin and her chest. "Rose and Naomi just left to go to that party."

Kimi was sitting on her bed, and setting up Grey's Anatomy. She was also pausing and snacking on the assortment of snacks she had brought in. "I heard. We're so cool because we're staying home and watching Grey's."

Karin finished putting her hair up, grabbed her phone, and climbed onto the bed beside Kimi. She reached over to dip one of the nacho chips in the cheese, and ate the chip. The gooey cheese was just what she needed. "I'm kinda partied out after that party a couple nights ago. If you wanted to go, you definitely could have."

"No I'm fine here," Kimi said, as she selected the episode of Grey's they were on. Popping a nacho chip in her mouth, then she reached for some popcorn. "Being home on a Saturday night in my pajamas with great food and television, and with my soulmate makes for the perfect evening."

"Same." Karin agreed, as they both laughed. Her eyes going to Kimi. "You know, I might as well be dating you. You were practically made for me."

"Well if we're dating that means I get to start calling you some sort of nickname," Kimi replied without hesitation, her eyes studying Karin. "You know I'm going to have to settle with babe. It's just the right amount of sweet and hot all mixed into one."

That made Karin laugh as she grabbed some of the popcorn this time. "Alright if I'm babe then you get to be boo, because you're my boo thang."

Kimi threw her head back and laughed at that one, as she brought a hand to her face. "Oh my god, from that movie we watched the other night."

"Damn right." Karin said, winking at Kimi, making them both laugh again. Quieting down as the episode finally loaded and started. Her mind slowly returned back to the hollow from earlier. The feeling she had when it showed up started up, and she tried to push it away. That was until she realized that it wasn't a memory, it was happening now. Sensing the hollow this time she didn't hesitate to stand up, as she swallowed the chip in her mouth.

Kimi paused Grey's, and looked to her. "What's up?"

"I just remembered that I think I left some of my sheet music in the hall. I need to go get it before they lock the doors."

"I thought I saw you grab it-"

"I know. But the teacher asked me to pick up some new sheets, and I think I left them back where we were sitting," Karin lied, as she offered Kimi a smile. "You know I will be screwed if the wicked witch finds out I misplaced the sheets. I really need to go before they lock the building."

Nodding then, Kimi grabbed her water to take a sip. "Want me to come with you?"

"No, no. I'll be fine," Karin replied, as she waved a hand. "I'll run, and that way I'll be quick."

"In that case," Kimi said while getting up from the bed. "I'm going to grab a shower. As soon as you get back we can start the episode again."

"Of course," Karin agreed, offering a smile to Kimi as she walked out of the room. Darting into her own room, she quickly grabbed her soccer ball, but paused and grabbed her bag with her music folder in it. Planning on to trying to at least make it appear that she didn't lie.

Walking calmly out of the apartment, she started on a quick run once the door closed. She got to the elevator, but after hitting the button several times she decided on the stairs. When she got outside, that's when she really sped up. Heading straight towards the hollow, she realized it was nearing a park. The perfect place for her to have room to run and use her soccer ball.

Catching sight of the hollow, unlike earlier that day, her focus was sharp. Moving more in the offense, she started running towards the hollow. Thinking to herself about how she wasn't sure if it'd work out again, but she couldn't back down now. Getting within fifty feet of the hollow, she dropped her soccer ball, and kicked it harshly. Unlike the last time, the hollow was only seeming to be slightly affected by the soccer ball. When it started towards her, Karin froze, as her eyes widen. _Oh shit. What do I do?_ Feeling an odd feeling inside of herself, she raised her hand up when the hollow got close.

Before she realized what was happening, an intense light came from her hand. She wasn't quite sure how she was doing it, but whatever was happening it seemed to be taking over the hollow. The light intensified, then the hollow disintegrated before her eyes. It seemed like the world around her slowed down, and she stared at her hand in shock.

The sound of a car laying on it's horn not far from the park got Karin to shake out of her frozen state, and she moved to grab up her soccer ball. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she turned and started back in the direction of her apartment building. The world around her seemed to be numbed down. She was so unfocused that one second she was at the park, then next she was walking into her quiet apartment. Taking a breath, she started back to her room.

"Get your butt in here!" Kimi's exclamation was heard from her room. "That took forever!"

"Let me put my stuff down," Karin replied, noticing how her voice sounded shaky. "And you need to pick out a color for me, because you're painting my nails boo." She added that to try to sound more steady, and lead room for less worry on Kimi's part. It must have worked because she heard Kimi's laughter at her saying her new nickname. Walking into her room, she slipped off her shoes, and dropped her soccer ball and bag in her closet. Staring at herself in the mirror, she lifted her hand back up, and stared at it. _How did I do that? I don't…_ Trailing off, she shook her head, and turned her lights off. Going back over to Kimi's room, she walked in. "You better have not ate all the nacho cheese."

 **A couple days later, 13th of June, Karin's POV**

As her feet hit the pavement, Karin's heart raced in her chest. _Faster- I need to be faster._ After yesterday being so relaxing, of course today she found herself being chased down by another hollow. Unlike the last time she not only didn't have her soccer ball, but her power decided that it wasn't going to work. So here she was, running down the streets of the city without a clue as to what in the world to do.

She reached the area where she encountered the first hollow the other day, and found herself getting sort of closed in. She got to a point where a high fence kept her from running, with buildings on both sides, and she spun around to face the hollow. In that moment her power sparked up, and got the hollow to back off a little. But then it stopped, and she couldn't figure out how to do it again. Looking down at her hand, then back at the hollow. She gulped at how close it was getting, and how she still couldn't get her power to work.

The hollow got within ten feet of her before it froze. Literally it was frozen all over. It was silent for a long moment, then there was a large crack sound. Then the frozen hollow broke into several pieces before disappearing all together. The smoke that was caused when the pieces fell to the ground slowly disappeared. There was a shine from the metal blade of a zanpakuto, then the person's white hair and turquoise eyes identified who they were.

Karin's eyes widened, as her eyes met his. "Toshiro?"

The white haired captain, re-sheathed his zanpakuto, and crossed his arms over his chest. "Well, you've certainly been learning a lot of music here haven't you?"

 **Yuzu's POV, 3 o'clock in the afternoon**

Laughing along with Hinata, Yuzu's eyes moved down from the clear blue sky above. She and Hinata were walking on the edge of the lake that was in the middle of the forest not far from the institute. A lot of their friends were around, and it was kind of a relaxing break from their art classes. People were in and out of the water, she and Hinata had been walking along the edge.

"Yuzu!"

Hearing her name, Yuzu stopped to look out towards the water. There was Taro, grinning his lopsided grin at her, as he motioned for her to come in.

At Yuzu's hesitation, Hinata leaned over. "Well, what are you waiting for?"

Smiling back at Hinata, Yuzu moved the rest of the way back to their stuff. Pulling off the sundress to reveal her white and red polka dot bikini, she dropped it on her bag. She had to buy the new swimsuit earlier that day, as her old one piece wasn't fitting her chest or her hips anymore. When that happened to Karin earlier on in the year, she told her it was nothing, but now that it's happening to her it was quite annoying to have to buy new clothes. Going to the water's edge, she slowly stepped in. It was a little cooler than she expected, and she stopped when she got knee deep at the cold water. A chill running up and down her spine.

Taro who had been watching her, grinned at her stopping. "What's wrong? Can't swim? Don't worry, I can hold you up just fine. You can trust me."

"I can swim," Yuzu told him, finding herself rolling his eyes and smiling at his laughter. "It's just colder than I thought it would be."

"Well the rain we had yesterday, probably has something to do with that." Taro replied, grinning as he swam closer to her. Not standing up, just getting close enough to reach over and take her hand. Then he proceeded to move backwards, and he took her with him. "We don't have all day Yuzu. Well we do actually, but you are taking forever. I'm not even being dramatic."

"No wait," Yuzu started, her smile widening as he pulled her further into the cold water. "I'm not ready."

Taro smirked as she was laughing. Getting farther out, he wrapped an arm around her waist when she really fought him when they got to where the water was hitting her ribs. "Come on, you can do this."

"No-" Yuzu was interrupted when finally Taro had pulled her under water. The rush of the cold water hitting her skin all at once. Resurfacing, she shook her hair out, and propped her hands on her hips. "Thanks so much."

Taro's eyebrows rose at her. She was barely chest down under water, so he couldn't really see her arms, but he was watching her shoulders move. "Are you really propping your hands on your hips at me? Really Yuzu?"

Smiling big, Yuzu hummed, as she met his eyes. "Maybe."

"It wasn't that bad." Taro replied, grinning at her shaking her head. Then he motioned to the other side of the lake. "Race me?"

Yuzu stared at him for a long moment, appearing as if she was considering it. Then, without warning, she pushed his chest causing him to fall back in the water. Taking that extra moment, she turned quickly, and took off towards the other side of the lake.

Taro resurfaced, shook out his hair, and watched her getting a head start. "That was cheating."

"We didn't make any rules!" Yuzu called back, hearing him laugh made her smile. She just kept on swimming.

 **Karin's POV**

Hardly acknowledging Toshiro's question, Karin scowled, and brought her hands to her temples. Moving to walk past him. "Why does this keep happening to me?"

Raising an eyebrow at that, Toshiro turned to follow her back down to leave the alley way. "What do you mean by keeping happening?"

Once again, Karin hardly listened to him, as she yelled in frustration before leaving the alleyway. When Toshiro fell into step beside her, she looked to him. "How did you know to be here?"

"How long have you been able to do that?" Toshiro countered, ignoring her words for once.

Karin stared back at him. "Do what?"

Toshiro rolled her eyes at her making this conversation ten times more difficult than it needed to be. "Use those powers?"

That had Karin quiet, as they crossed a street. Sighing after a moment, she looked back at him. "I used them for the first time the day before yesterday. The first hollow that showed up, I used my soccer ball like I've done before. But the soccer ball didn't work that well for the second hollow later that night. But my powers finished it off. Although, my powers clearly didn't help today-"

"I'm sorry," Toshiro interrupted, a look of disbelief on his face. "You've encountered two other hollows on two separate occasions before the one today, and you haven't said anything to anyone?"

"Not exactly..." Karin trailed off in reply.

"What do you mean by "not exactly"?" Toshiro questioned, crossing his arms back over his chest. "Because I know you didn't say anything to Ichigo because when I left Karakura he wasn't running around in a panic and all about to come over here himself. I also haven't heard anything else from any of the other shinigami."

Karin shrugged after he stopped talking. "I told Yuzu."

Staring at Karin for a long moment in silence, Toshiro sighed. "Well that's great and all, but I was referring to someone who actually has experience with all of this."

"That's the thing," Karin said, once again having to stop talking so they could cross another street. "Yuzu said that a hollow came after her on the same day those two came for me."

That had clearly taken Toshiro off guard, as his eyes widened. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Yeah, Yuzu said that out of everyone around her, the hollow was coming at her directly," Karin replied, having not noticed the look of surprise on Toshiro's face until then. "Don't worry Toshiro. Akira was there, and protected Yuzu before anything happened."

"So Akira knows?"

"About Yuzu, not about me," Karin clarified, once again shrugging her shoulders. "Yuzu asked Akira not to say anything because it was just a minor thing, and she didn't want to worry Ichigo or our dad. I honestly don't blame her."

Karin had stopped outside of an apartment complex here, causing Toshiro to stop as well. He looked at her for a long moment. "I'm going to stick around here for a few days. Just to make sure it doesn't happen again."

"It probably won't-"

"I'd rather not take the chance." Toshiro interrupted, turning so Karin would have to face away from people walking by. He had to reach over and nudge her shoulder to get her to turn.

That made Karin realize that he wasn't in his gigai. "Oh, I forgot about the fact that nobody else can see you. Geez. I must have looked like a crazy person coming back here."

Smirking at that, Toshiro shook his head. "Anyway, I'm not taking any chances with you. I'm Orihime's friend, and since she's in a relationship with your brother, I have some responsibility to look out for you."

Karin smirked right back at Toshiro, as she propped her hands on her hips. "Can't you just admit you're friends with Ichigo?"

"I won't, because we're not." Was Toshiro's reply.

"Yeah right," Karin laughed, but stopped when she remembered something. "You never told me how you knew to show up here."

Toshiro nodded at the thought. "There was a shinigami that usually had jurisdiction over this area. They got moved to another assignment, and nobody replaced them because there is hardly ever any hollows over here. But, apparently two hollows appearing on the radar in one day sets off some alarms. I just so happened to overhear the place when I was in the Soul Society, and recognized it from where Orihime had said you were staying. I figured I'd come out here and check it out. Lucky for you, I did."

"Ha ha," Karin spoke sarcastically, turning to go inside, but she stopped to look back at him. "Everything's going to be fine. It was probably just a really strange coincidence for those hollows to show up… Either that or it's just because my family attracts danger like it's second nature."

Toshiro actually chuckled at her words, watching her as she walked inside, and shook his head at her. "Right."

 **The next day, 14th of June, Karin's POV**

"You want to what?"

"I want to see you use your powers again."

"Really Toshiro?" Karin countered, her eyes wide, as she stared at him. It was just after 10:30 in the morning, and she had just walked out of morning yoga with Kimi when she caught sight of the shinigami captain. She had told Kimi she would meet up with her later, then walked over to Toshiro. Now here they were, talking about her using her powers as if she did it everyday. "I can't do that."

"You can't or you won't?" Toshiro countered her quickly.

"It's not that easy," Karin shot right back, as she looked at him as if he was crazy. "I can't just snap my fingers and make my powers appear. The two times I did use them, it wasn't intentional. I mean the second time I wanted it to happen, but I have no idea how in the hell I did it."

Toshiro smirked at her words. "That's what training is for. It'd be best for you to go ahead and figure out what you can do. So next time there is a hollow you won't end up dead."

Rolling her eyes, Karin turned her head away from him, as she crossed her arms. "Oh gee thanks for the confidence… Fine let's do just do it, and get it over with."

"We can start now," Toshiro said, then he noticed her pulling out her phone. "Unless you have somewhere else to be."

"I just have to call my sister real fast," Karin said, turning away from Toshiro, and moving a few feet away.

"Don't take too long."

"Aye aye captain!" Karin called back sarcastically, as she stopped walking. Dialing her sister's number, she paused before hitting the call button. _I can't believe I'm about to start training on powers that I didn't even know I had just a few days ago…_ Trying to push past the fluttering feeling inside of herself, Karin pushed the call button, and brought the phone up to her ear. _Wait until Yuzu finds out._

* * *

 **A/N: Another chapter down! So not only is Akira aware of Yuzu's hollow run-in, but now Toshiro knows somethings going on. What all do you think will happen with Toshiro training Karin? And can we just talk about the cute lake scene between Taro and Yuzu? That was one of my favorites, as well as the scene with Karin and Kimi hanging out about to watch Grey's Anatomy. I love writing their friendship dynamic. What was your favorite scene?**

 **I also want to go ahead and disclaim something. I think I already mentioned this back in The Reason, but I did raise Toshiro's height in this series. So he's about 5 foot 7, or 67 inches if anyone measures that way. I hope you all don't mind the change.**

 **Don't forget to review, favorite, and share this story with others. Also be sure to check out my other stories.**

 **Be sure to like my page (Ruby1235 Fanfiction) on Facebook and follow me on twitter ( Ruby1235Fanfic) for updates, sneak peeks, and hints for current and new stories :)**

 **Also be sure to check out my blog: ruby1235fanfiction. blogspot .com (no spaces)**


	5. I Thought I Was The Normal One

_Review:_

" _Aye aye captain!" Karin called back sarcastically, as she stopped walking. Dialing her sister's number, she paused before hitting the call button. I can't believe I'm about to start training on powers that I didn't even know I had just a few days ago… Trying to push past the fluttering feeling inside of herself, Karin pushed the call button, and brought the phone up to her ear. Wait until Yuzu finds out._

* * *

 **Yuzu's POV**

Getting off the phone with Karin, she dropped the phone on her lap, and her eyes moved up to the ceiling. _Wow. So Karin has powers now too? First Ichigo, then dad and mom- well I guess they had powers first. Then Orihime ends up with more powers than she realized she had in the first place. It seems like everyone in my life has powers, and I'm the only one over here having to be saved._ The annoyed sounding tone in her voice actually took her off guard. _Am I really upset that I am the only normal one in my family? I should celebrate that… But somehow I'm still annoyed with it._

Feeling her phone buzz in her lap, she picked it up to see it was just Karin saying Toshiro was already driving her crazy, and they just started training. Sighing, as she stared down at her phone. Her eyes lifted to look around the room. Specifically the graffiti art that decorated the wall. She was at Taro's. They ended up hanging out so late last night that she ended up just staying over. Now that she thought about it, she actually ended up sleeping over here the past three nights.

The sound of the bathroom door opening was heard, and Taro walked out. Towel drying his hair after having just got out of the shower. "So what are we doing today? My class doesn't start until five, and yours starts at four right?"

"Yeah..." Yuzu trailed off, staring down at Karin's message on her phone. She still hadn't replied.

At Yuzu's lack of a real answer to his question, Taro stopped towel drying his hair, and looked over at her. "What's up?"

"Just family stuff," Yuzu replied, locking her phone and dropping it on the bed. She just turned to face him, her lower half was still under the blankets, as she had only woken up twenty minutes ago. "I honestly just don't want to think about it. I need to think about something else."

"Okay then." Taro said, tossing the towel over to rest on the top of his mini fridge, then he walked over to her. Moving one hand behind her to bring her closer to the edge of the bed, his other hand went to her face, and without any warning he kissed her.

In that moment Yuzu's world stopped, and her thoughts scattered to a million far away places.

Breaking the kiss, Taro remained close, as he opened his eyes to meet hers. "That distract you enough?"

Yuzu was quiet, then a smile appeared on her face. "A little."

That made Taro smirk, as he kissed her again. This time when he broke the kiss, he didn't say anything.

Yuzu's smiled widened, as she hummed. "A little better." After that she kissed him this time. Raising her hands up to slide over his shoulders, she smiled into the kiss. The thought of Karin's shinigami training was far from her mind. Feeling nothing but happy.

 **Karin's POV, almost 2 p.m.**

"Where have you been? We have class in ten minutes."

"I know," Karin started, having just got back to the apartment, she jogged back to her bedroom. "I'm sorry, I got distracted."

"With what?" Kimi asked, as she stopped in the doorway to Karin's room. Watching Karin darting around her room to get her stuff together for class.

"I met up with a friend of mine from back home, and we just lost track of time," Karin said, before pausing in getting ready. "Okay, I lost track of time. He had no idea I had other things to do, so it was one hundred percent my fault."

"He?" Kimi asked, a growing smirk on her face. "Is it your boyfriend? Did he come see you?"

"No, no, no, it was just a friend." Karin was quick to say. Although, just the thought of her boyfriend reminded her that she hadn't really heard much from Ryuu the past couple days. Just a few texts here and there. Shaking the thoughts off, she shoved her music folder in her bag. "Let's go."

The two girls left the apartment. Once they were in the elevator, Kimi's eyes focused in on Karin. "Just a friend?"

Sighing at Kimi bringing it up again, Karin nodded. "Yes, just a friend. We hadn't seen each other in a while, and after running into each other the other day, I didn't realize how much we had to catch up on. I am happily in a relationship with a guy back home, not this guy friend of mine that showed up." She spoke quickly, as they got out of the elevator, she looked at her time on her phone. "Okay we have five minutes, we better run."

 **Yuzu's POV, seven p.m.**

Finishing shading in her picture, Yuzu found a stopping place, and set her pencil down when she heard the teacher announce the class was over. She was kind of surprised at the doodle she had been drawing over the three hour class. The first half of the class she spent drawing with the class, the second half was supposed to be the lecture. She hadn't paid the slightest bit attention. All she could think about is kissing Taro.

"Yuzu?"

Hearing Shin's questioning voice, Yuzu looked up to see her friends standing there waiting for her. Quickly shutting her notebook, she shoved it in her bag, and got up. "Sorry."

"It's fine," Hinata said, her eyes focusing on Yuzu's flustered expression. "You were distracted all class."

"I just," Yuzu paused to take a breath. "Had something on my mind that wouldn't go away."

Yukio laughed at that. "I'll say, she was drawing over the same line over and over in class, I thought she was going to start breaking through the paper."

Yuzu shrugged, as they walked out in the hall. "What can I say? I'm so destructive, I think the paper is scared of me now." While that made her friends laugh, Yuzu's eyes went to the right to see Taro leaning against the wall, and she smiled as she stopped in front of him. "Hey. What are you doing here? Isn't your class another hour?"

"Yeah," Taro replied, his usual lopsided grin appearing on his face at the sight of Yuzu. "But then I wouldn't able to walk with you back would I?"

Laughing, Yuzu shrugged, as her smile widened. "I guess not."

Hinata, clearly able to take a hint, focused on Shin and Yukio. "Come on boys. We have some sketches to work on for class. We can go to to the diner."

"That's fine," Yukio said, crossing his arms over his chest. "But I'm not going to actually do any work."

"Same." Shin agreed, as the two guys started walking.

Hinata paused to look at Yuzu. "See you at the party tonight?"

"Yeah." Yuzu said with a nod, watching Hinata turn to go catch up with Shin and Yukio. She and Taro started walking the other direction. It was quiet as the two walked down the hall, then once outside Yuzu's eyes went to Taro. "I really think-"

"We should probably-" Taro stopped as he and Yuzu had started talking at the same time.

Yuzu laughed it off. "Go ahead."

"I was going to say," Taro started, his eyes going from her to straight ahead of them. "We should probably talk about this morning."

"That's what I was going to say," Yuzu said, taking in a breath, as her eyes went to him. "I mean I don't really know where to start."

Taro finally looked back over to her, as he put his grin back on his face. "Well I don't know about you, but I liked kissing you. I want to do it again."

That brought a smile to Yuzu's face, as she laughed lightly. "I do too."

It was quiet again, before Taro laughed. "Well okay then. Nice talk."

That had them both laughing, and the somewhat tense air they had created disappeared. Yuzu smiling ear to ear, as they continued on walking.

 **Around two in the morning**

Yuzu was sitting on the floor of Taro's room, leaning back against the wall with her phone in her hands. Her thoughts buzzed from the party that had just come back from half an hour ago. While at the party, Taro kissed her in front of all of her friends. She had stopped and told him that people were watching, but he told her he didn't care. He asked her if she did, and she told him she didn't. Then he kissed her again like it was normal.

Feeling her phone buzzing, Yuzu looked down at her. Her mind a little cloudy, as it was affected by the alcohol she had. She found herself having to really focus to read the text she got.

 _Karin: Training was awesome this morning. I can't wait to do it again._

 _Yuzu: I'm happy that you're getting to do that._

Even while she said she was happy, Yuzu found herself growing annoyed again. The thought of being the only normal one in the family was something she was supposed to be a good thing, but it was quite annoying when all she heard from them was how cool their training is.

 _Karin: How did your day go today? Did you see the picture Orihime sent of Mina?_

Yuzu actually hadn't looked at the picture. When Orihime sent it a couple hours ago, she was in the middle of the party, and wasn't really focused in on her phone. Going to click on the picture, she smiled as it was one of Mina asleep. However, when she texted Karin back, she lied and said she had seen it, before saying her day was interesting.

 _Karin: How so?_

Yuzu was about to respond, but the door to Taro's room opened. Taro walked in, holding up a to go bag from the diner. "French fries and a chicken sandwich for my lady."

"You're sweet," Yuzu said, laughing at what he called her. "Thank you for going to pick it up. I would have gone, but I think I had a little a too much to drink."

"It's no problem," Taro replied, setting the bag of their food on his bedside table, then his eyes went back to her across the room. "Why are you sitting on the floor?"

"Well," Yuzu started, looking down at her shoes next to her. "I was taking off my shoes, and I didn't feel like getting back up."

Walking over to her, Taro offered her his arm. When she had a good hold on it, he pulled her up. "I got you your food, I help you up when you don't feel like getting up yourself, and I sit through sappy love comedies for you. What would you do without me?"

"I don't know," Yuzu said, then she moved up on her tiptoes to kiss him. "On the bright side it's your turn to pick the movie tonight."

"I know," Taro started, a big lopsided grin on his face. "I'm telling you right now that it's going to be the first Fast and Furious movie, and you're going to love that series."

Yuzu laughed as she put her hair up in a bun. "My sister loves those movies. I just never got around to watching them with her." The thought of her sister got Yuzu's attention back to her phone, as she typed a response to her sister.

 _Yuzu: Just a lot of crazy art stuff today. You probably wouldn't care to hear about it._

 _Karin: No that's cool, I respect it. You do you Yuzu… Goodnight._

 _Yuzu: Night._

Finishing up texting her sister, she went to plug her phone up to the charger. Raising an eyebrow as she realized it's been plugged up here for nearly four full days. "I need to eventually go back to my apartment for more than a few minutes sometime."

Taro sighed dramatically at her, as he got up on the bed after taking his jeans off. "But I like you staying over here. It's been nice."

"Yeah I know," Yuzu said, as she pulled at the shirt she was wearing. "But I think it'd be nice to sleep in my own pajamas instead of one of your shirts."

That made Taro grin back at her. "I'm not seeing the problem."

Rolling her eyes, Yuzu shook her head, as she slipped her shorts off from under the shirt. Climbing in the bed beside him, she right away reached for the bag of food to get her fries out. "I've been sleeping over here for the past three nights. I think Hinata's probably concerned as to why when we meet up for morning yoga, I'm still wearing clothes from the day before." She laughed as she ate another fry. "I'm just saying I miss my own clothes to sleep in."

Taro, having been watching Yuzu closely since she took off her shorts, finally snapped out of his thoughts. Grabbing his burger out of the bag, he looked back at her "Okay, so how about this? Tomorrow after class, we can stop by your apartment. That way you can grab your pajamas with the bunnies on them, as well as a change of clothes for your morning yoga the next morning."

Laughing, Yuzu grabbed another fry. "Why do you assume my pajamas have bunnies on them?"

"I just picture you in pajamas with some furry creature on them." Taro replied with a shrug of his shoulders.

Yuzu was quiet, then she looked away from him. "Their panda's not bunnies."

Laughing at that, Taro shook his head at her. "Now that I think about it, I wouldn't mind seeing you in your normal pajamas."

That made Yuzu's face grow slightly warm, but she shook it off. Leaning over she kissed him, then focused back on her french fries. "Just turn on your Fast and Furious movie already."

 **A few hours later**

Opening her eyes to the dark room, Yuzu frowned at how she was all of a sudden taken out of her dream. Getting past the fog of figuring out what was sleep and what was reality proved to be a lot easier when she got a tingling sensation all over her body. Recognizing it to be the same one from the other day with the hollow, but this time it was a lot more than just a small feeling. It apparently had woke her up. Despite not having any abilities herself, she felt an almost sense of responsibility to go.

Moving carefully, she had to maneuver her way out from Taro's arm that had wrapped around her as they slept. Getting off the bed, she pulled on her shorts, and her shoes. She grabbed Taro's keys, and slipped out of the room. It wasn't until she was outside that stopped. Sensing the hollow wasn't that far away from the resident buildings, she took off towards the green. Her idea was to get away from the buildings, and into the forest on the other side of the green.

This idea of hers seemed to be a good one until she found herself in the middle of the forest, getting chased by a hollow, and no idea what to do next. She couldn't really call Akira, because she left her phone back in Taro's room. Feeling helplessness creeping up, she tried her best to push it away. _No, I'm not going to be helpless anymore._ With that thought in mind, she turned on her heel to face the hollow. Holding up her hand she was surprised to see a bright bursting light of power come from it. It took the hollow down no problem.

"Damn."

Coming out from behind some trees was Akira. Yuzu's shocked expression remained as her eyes met Akira's. "That just happened…"

Akira nodded her head, as she smirked. "It sure did."

A few minutes later they were walking back in the direction of the institute. Akira focusing in on Yuzu, who was still in shock. "I think you have the same abilities as I do. A shinigami, but not a shinigami."

"There's no way," Yuzu started immediately in disagreement. "I'm the normal one in the family. When Karin told me this happened to her, I just assumed it was something like what happened with Ichigo or our parents, and I somehow just happened to be the normal one."

"Wait, Karin has powers now too?"

Yuzu nodded back at Akira, as they broke through the forest. When they started across the green towards the resident buildings, Yuzu's eyes went to see Akira looking thoughtful.

"Like I said, I think you-and probably your sister-have the same abilities as me. I mean you're in the very early stages so that's why it's not as prominent as my own abilities. But it's there."

Yuzu was quiet for a long moment, then she and Akira paused as they got to Taro's building. "I don't know if I can handle this. It was only a few months ago that I couldn't even see hollows, and now it seems they are consuming my life."

"I know, but it'll get easier," Akira encouraged with a smile. "I'm going to be leaving tomorrow, but I can get in touch with a shinigami to let them know about the hollows that have been showing up. So that way they can be around just in case another shows up. I can do the same for Karin."

Yuzu nodded, as she crossed her arms. "Karin doesn't need it."

"Why not?" Akira questioned, an eyebrow raised. "I understand she has powers too, but at this point her powers are just barely tapped into. All it takes is for a higher level hollow to show up."

"Toshiro is already aware of the hollow situation, and has been hanging around Karin the past few days to look out for her." Yuzu explained, noticing that had Akira raising an eyebrow. "We haven't said anything to anyone else though. If word gets out to my dad or Ichigo, this trip will end a lot sooner than we want it to. Karin and I are both having a lot of fun. Sure there has been some drama, but it's been more exciting than anything. We don't want to alarm anyone unless we have too."

Akira was quiet, then a sly grin appeared on her face, as she crossed her arms. "Well I was guessing it was getting pretty fun for you."

"What do you mean?" Yuzu questioned, confused as to why Akira was grinning like she was at her.

"Well I've known your for some months now, and I know that's not the usual attire you wear to bed," Akira replied, her grin turning into a smirk. "Who's the guy?"

Yuzu's face turned bright red, but she didn't deny it. "Remember at my art gala a month or so ago? There was this guy wearing the hat with the paint on it. His hair was a bit longer, and it's kind of like a dirty blonde. Then he has those grey eyes with just the slightest bit of green in them-"

"Ah," Akira interrupted, her smirk widening as Yuzu was getting a little distracted by talking about the guy. "Someone has clearly had an eventful trip so far."

"It just kind of happened," Yuzu said with a sigh. "The first few days here we ended up spending a lot of time together. Before I knew it, I was staying over later and later at his place, and the last few nights I've been spending the night."

Akira laughed at the sight of Yuzu's unsure look. "Yuzu it's okay that you're doing this. You don't need to feel guilty. You're about to turn fifteen in like what four or five days? You are in the time of your life of discovering boys, and going out and partying," she paused to laugh again. "Yeah, I could smell the beer before I got within five feet of you. I'm not going to bust you because I was doing the same thing at your age. I honestly think you should just go for it. It's all a great stress-reliever. You might need it after all this hollow drama."

Yuzu released the breath she had been holding. It was refreshing to hear from someone that what she was doing was normal and okay. Her eyes met Akira's once more. "Please don't say anything about the guy to my dad or Ichigo. Or the hollow stuff."

"Don't worry, I won't," Akira waved her hand as she smiled. "I'm leaving tomorrow morning, well technically this morning since it's past 2 a.m. now. But if you need anything I'm only a phone call away. Any questions about hollows…. or boys."

Yuzu smiled back. "Thanks." Giving Akira a nod, she watched her walk away. Staying outside until she couldn't see Akira anymore, she finally walked inside. Once back in Taro's room, she tiptoed through the dark room and over to the bed. Slipping off her shorts and her shoes before crawling back onto the bed. She thought she had been successful in staying quiet, until she felt Taro's arm slipping back around her, as he moved.

"Where did you go?"

At his half-asleep question, Yuzu just smiled. "Hinata needed me for real fast," she said, then she kissed him. "Go back to sleep." After that was said, he had just hummed, and she just settled back to laying down. The soft sound of air coming from the fan in the room was the only sound, and her mind was settling down from everything that happened. _I have powers too… I thought I was the normal one._

* * *

 **A/N: There you have it. Yuzu's not as normal as she once thought. I bet you are all wondering how Yuzu and Karin could possibly have the same powers as Akira (and Rin, for those of you who remember the mother to Orihime's niece). Don't worry, that will be explained eventually. It may or may not be explained in the spin-off, but maybe in the sequel to The Reason.**

 **My favorite scene to write was between Yuzu's first kiss scene, and the scene before them going to bed. What was your favorite scene?**

 **I do want to go ahead and say that Chapter 6 and probably Chapter 7 are going to be much longer chapters. I'm planning on revolving them around the girls birthday, and have plenty of things that will be going on. So I just want to say that 6, 7, and maybe even chapter 8 will be a longer read. So get ready :)**

 **Don't forget to review, favorite, and share this story with others. Also be sure to check out my other stories.**

 **Be sure to like my page (Ruby1235 Fanfiction) on Facebook and follow me on twitter ( Ruby1235Fanfic) for updates, sneak peeks, and hints for current and new stories :)**

 **Also be sure to check out my blog: ruby1235fanfiction. blogspot .com (no spaces)**


	6. Smooth Light and Sexy

_Review:_

 _Once back in Taro's room, she tiptoed through the dark room and over to the bed. Slipping off her shorts and her shoes before crawling back onto the bed. She thought she had been successful in staying quiet, until she felt Taro's arm slipping back around her, as he moved._

" _Where did you go?"_

 _At his half-asleep question, Yuzu just smiled. "Hinata needed me for real fast," she said, then she kissed him. "Go back to sleep." After that was said, he had just hummed, and she just settled back to laying down. The soft sound of air coming from the fan in the room was the only sound, and her mind was settling down from everything that happened. I have powers too… I thought I was the normal one._

* * *

 **A couple days later, 16th of June**

Walking out of the music building at six in the afternoon, Karin's eyes moved immediately over to the left. Catching sight of the white hair first. Sighing, her eyes went to her other side to focus on Kimi. "I'll meet you back at the apartment."

Kimi took Karin's hand to stop her, as she looked over in Toshiro's direction. "Are you going over there to talk to that guy? I saw you around with him yesterday."

"Yeah, he's kind of waiting for me," Karin said, watching Kimi's raised eyebrow, she shook her head. "Don't start."

"I'm not, I'm not," Kimi replied, then she chuckled as she turned to walk away. "Don't forget that we have a date with Shonda Rhimes and all of her shows tonight."

"Wouldn't miss it!" Karin called back to Kimi who was walking away. Her eyes went back over to Toshiro, who was sitting with his back to one of the trees. Standing there for another moment, she finally walked over. "You seriously are like everywhere I turn."

"That's called keeping an eye out on you," Toshiro replied calmly unlike the irritated tone Karin had. Ironically enough he had both his eyes were closed.

Karin kept her frown on her face. "Okay, well this training has been going anywhere, and it's irritating to feel like I'm being followed."

"Just like Ichigo," Toshiro mumbled, before he opened his eyes to look at her. "I was going to ask if you wanted to try training again, but I'm not sure anymore. You seem like you're in a mood."

"I am not," Karin immediately disagreed, then she crossed her arms and sighed. "Okay, maybe I am. My music teacher just tore into me about me missing some sheet music. Which wasn't even my fault… Okay it was my fault. But, I mean, she didn't have to yell at me in front of the whole class. And I didn't mean to snap at you about training, I've really enjoyed it over the past few days. Even if its not exactly going anywhere."

Toshiro nodded after she finished her rant. "Okay, then let's train."

That made Karin's eyes widen, as he motioned for her to sit down. "We can't do it here. There are other people around. You're in your gigai so people can see you as well."

"Do you want to go up to the roof of your apartment building again?" Toshiro suggested as he stood up. That had been where they had practiced the last few days.

Karin was quiet as she thought of their options. "Nah, let's just go down to the park. That way we can hang out in the area with the trees, so there is less of a chance of people seeing us."

Toshiro raised an eyebrow at her suggestion, then looked to the sky. "You know it's probably going to rain right?"

"No, we'll be fine. It's going to hold out until later tonight," Karin said, watching Toshiro shaking his head. "It is."

"Okay," Toshiro started, a growing smirk on his face. "When it starts to rain on us later, and we're all the way in the park, don't start complaining to me."

Propping her hands on her hips, Karin glared at him. "I don't appreciate your attitude."

"What attitude-"

"You know what attitude," Karin interrupted, moving to walk past him. "Are we doing this or not?"

"Right." Toshiro shook his head, and followed after her. A smirk remaining on his face.

 **A couple hours later**

"I told you so."

"Shut up," Karin shot back irritably. They just ran into her apartment building, and the sound of the pouring rain from outside was heard. Having to catch her breath as they walked into the elevator. It started lightly raining at the park, so they started back to her apartment building. About half-way there the rain picked up, so they started to run. Toshiro suggested they stop about half an hour ago, but she said no. "I just wanted to keep training. I was getting so close I think."

Laughing at that thought, Toshiro ran his fingers through his wet hair. "You were getting so frustrated that you couldn't get it that you hardly noticed when it started raining."

"It's not funny," Karin shot back at his laughter, as they got off the elevator. Stopping to look at him, she finally smiled. "Okay, it was a little funny."

"Would you make up your mind?" Toshiro countered, smirking at her laughter.

Getting to her apartment, Karin unlocked the door, and they both walked in. Her eyes going to the couches where her roommates were. "Hey."

"What's going on?" Naomi asked casually, as they had all got quiet when Karin and this guy came in.

Karin was quiet as she closed the door, then she looked to Naomi. "It's raining."

"Clearly." Rose said, as she laughed.

Kimi's focus had completely went past Karin and to Toshiro. "Karin has been completely rude like usual and hasn't introduced any of us."

Rolling her eyes at Kimi's dramatic words, Karin walked over to her, and proceeded to ring water out of her hair all over Kimi. "This brat is Kimi, and that's Naomi and Rose," she said, her eyes going from Toshiro to Kimi. "This is Toshiro. I haven't introduced you because I haven't really had time."

Kimi smirked back at Karin, as she had tried to avoid the water Karin was dripping off her hair. "You're the brat, brat."

Laughing at Kimi's words, Karin grabbed Toshiro's hand and started to pull him towards the left hall. "Goodbye."

As they walked down the short hallway, Toshiro smirked at the sound of Karin's friends laughing from the living room. "Your friends seem nice."

"They are," Karin replied, as they walked into her room. Shutting the door behind them. Dropping her bag to the floor, she quickly pulled up her wet hair, and kicked off her shoes. "Okay, let's keep training."

"You seriously want to keep going?" Toshiro asked, watching her nod, he smirked. "Your brother is the same way."

"We're not the same," Karin replied quickly, as she sat down on the floor. "Ichigo is a stubborn moron who can't for the life him stay out of trouble."

Laughing at her clear resentment of him comparing her to her sister, Toshiro crossed his arms over his chest. "Okay, well so far I see stubbornness in you, I don't think you're a moron, and so far you've attracted three hollows in three days. So two for three, you are like your brother. Whether you like it or not."

Karin was quiet, as she stared at him.

"Okay," Toshiro started up again, a smirk on his face. "There are probably hundreds of other qualities that differentiate you from your brother. Can we move on?" He asked, moving to sit on the floor. "Why are we sitting on the floor?"

"I don't want to get my bed wet," Karin replied, straightening up once Toshiro sat down. "Once we dry off we can move up there. But until then, here we are."

Chuckling Toshiro nodded. "Here we are."

 **A few hours later**

After working on her training, while taking nearly a one hour snack break because Karin was about "starve to death", they finally got to a point where Karin was able to bring her power back to her hand. It wasn't until she finally was able to steadily hold the power in her hand without it dying out that she finally broke her concentration, and jumped to standing up on her bed. "Yes!"

At her loud exclamation and laughter, Toshiro reached up to steady her as she wobbled on the bed. "Would you be quiet? You have neighbors."

Karin just giggled happily, as she spun around. "I can't believe I did it."

"You're going to fall off your bed." Toshiro told her, smirking at her clear lack of listening to him.

"That was awesome," Karin said, laughing again as she sat back on the bed. "I have to do that again."

"I think that's good for the day," Toshiro said, chuckling at her clearly disappointed look. "You've made a lot of progress yes, but you don't want to burn out."

Sighing heavily, Karin stared back at Toshiro. "Well that definitely kills my happy mood."

"Really?" Toshiro questioned, an eyebrow raised.

Karin only held her serious face for a few more seconds, before she was back to grinning. "No I'm still pretty happy," she said, her eyes going over to the window. "It stopped raining."

"It stopped raining an hour ago, you were just so focused that you didn't notice," Toshiro informed her, as he moved to stand up. "It's getting late."

"Is it really?" Karin questioned, moving over to grab her phone from where it was on the charger. Her eyes widened at the time. "It's almost eleven. Damn, time went by so fast. We've been at this since six, that's almost five hours."

"Well we did take an almost one hour snack break." Toshiro pointed out, an eyebrow raised at her with a smirk on his face.

"I got distracted, okay?" Karin countered, making them both laugh. Moving to get off her bed herself, she crossed her arms, as she waited for him to slip his shoes back on. "You have to promise that we're going to train again tomorrow."

Pausing after he put his shoes on, Toshiro raised an eyebrow. "Didn't I hear you promising your roommate-Kimi I think her name was-that you would do all sorts of stuff with her tomorrow?"

"Yeah," Karin said, waving off his look. "But I can make time for training, trust me."

"Right." Toshiro said, chuckling at her happy look.

After walking Toshiro out, Karin came back into the apartment to all of her roommates eyes on her from the couch. "Can I help you?"

At Karin's question the other girls just kept their raised eyebrows and sly grins. Naomi being the first to speak. "That didn't look like the tall dark and handsome guy we here about from back home."

"He is more like..." Rose trailed off, then she laughed. "More like smooth light and sexy."

That had them all laughing, even Karin at how ridiculous that sounded. "No, no, no," she started, as she plopped down on one of the arm chairs. "He is not my boyfriend. He's just a friend. Which Kimi has been told this ten times, so I don't know why she's putting ideas in your heads."

Kimi laughed at that. "Who said it was me who put the idea there? Maybe they just think the same thing..." She trailed off, then grinned at Karin. "Okay, it was me. But come on."

"Yeah," Naomi started, propping her elbow up on the arm of the couch. Studying Karin. "Does your boyfriend know that you're inviting guys into your room?"

"It's just one guy, and it'd be different if we weren't such close friends," Karin replied, then she thought about it. "Well I mean I don't know if we're the normal definition of close friends. We just have a lot of stuff going on in our lives that kind of gives us an excuse to be close… You all have dirty minds."

That had them all laughing. When the laughter died down, they decided on making plans to have a movie night. Naomi and Rose left to go down to the 24 hour store to grab them some snack, Kimi went to set up Netflix on the TV in the living room, as well as start on some late night milkshakes for them all. Karin walked back to her room with plans to grab a quick shower.

Once in the bathroom, she turned on the water, and waited for it to heat up. Thinking on the conversation that just happened in the living room, she frowned for a moment at the thought of what they suggested. _Just because Toshiro hung out_ _in my room doesn't mean anything. I have plenty of guy friends back home who came over all the time… Of course they didn't actually come into my room, but that's not the point. I shared a room with Yuzu back home, so it wouldn't really be fair of me to bring them up there._

Laughing it off after a moment, she picked up her phone as her thoughts went to Ryuu, and she texted him.

 _Karin: Hey, I hope things are going well back home. I haven't really heard anything from you in a few days._

Waiting a moment to see if he'd respond, she sighed when he didn't, and set her phone down. _He's probably already asleep. It is an hour ahead in Karakura._ Feeling the heat from the shower, she turned on the cold water a little bit more, and stepped in. Once again finding herself plagued with thoughts of what her roommates were suggesting. Leaving a frown on her face, and her thoughts spinning. _It's not like that._

 **The next day, June 17th**

"As fun as this has been," Kimi started from where she was standing by the edge of the roof. Looking down at the busy square. "We should probably go back down. I have my private music lesson to get to."

Kimi and Karin had adventured up to the roof half an hour ago to look at the view from the square. Both had brought their cameras to shoot with, and that's what Karin was doing when Kimi spoke. Finishing taking a couple more pictures, she looked to Kimi. "You go ahead. My lesson doesn't start until later."

"Okay," Kimi agreed with a nod, as she put her camera away in her bag. "But don't forget. As soon as you get back from your lesson, we're going to sit down and plan what we're going to do for your birthday."

That had Karin sighing dramatically, as she paused before she could take another picture. "I already said we don't really need to do anything."

"And I already said that's too bad because we're going to do something." Kimi shot back, laughing as she moved towards the door to go back inside. "Don't fall off."

"I'll try not to boo!" Karin called back, smirking as she heard Kimi's laughter as she went inside. Focusing back on the square, she took a last picture, then turned to the higher portion of the roof. "You can come down now."

It was quiet for a moment, then Toshiro appeared standing on the edge. "How did you know I was up here?"

"My sense is getting better from all this training we've been doing." Karin replied, holding her camera up and taking a picture of Toshiro, laughing at his frown after she did so. "Hey look I think I have proof of you smiling."

Jumping down from the higher part of the roof, Toshiro shook his head and smirked at her. "So your birthday is coming up."

"It's not that big of a deal," Karin shot back right away, then she sighed. "But it's tomorrow. I don't really see why there even needs to be a party, but Kimi is insistent on it… That was always Yuzu's favorite part of our birthday. Planning out the party. I just wanted to hang out with my friends, like it was any other day."

Toshiro nodded at that. "I can see that… Do you want to train now?"

"Of course I do," Karin replied almost immediately, as she put her camera away. "I've got an hour and a half to kill until my music lesson. Let's do this-"

"Not so fast," Toshiro said at her preparing to start her power up on her hand. "I'm thinking our training today will actually be meditation."

Karin stared at Toshiro for a long moment. "You've got to be kidding me."

Chuckling at Karin's obvious disappointment, Toshiro moved to sit down, and motioned for her to as well. "I'm not kidding in the slightest. This will be good for you."

Sighing dramatically, Karin plopped down across from him. However their silence only lasted a minute before she sighed again. "This isn't working."

"We've been sitting here for all of one minute."

"Yeah, but I can already tell-"

"It certainly works better when you aren't moving around and talking." Toshiro interrupted, chuckling at her annoyed eye roll.

"I don't think it works it all."

"You've hardly gave it a chance to work," Toshiro replied, watching her laugh, made him smirk.

"Are you making me do this because you know that I was really excited to use my powers again?" Karin asked after she stopped laughing, a smile still on her face.

"No," Toshiro chuckled at her. "You really do need to balance it out. Power is a nice thing, but meditation will help you will controlling that power."

"Okay..." Karin trailed off into silence for only a few seconds, then she was back to looking at him. "So it is because you want to torture me?"

Toshiro sighed, but kept his smirk on his face. "Clearly not because if anything, I'm the one being tortured."

"Shut up." Karin said laughing once again. Finally they went back to being quiet. However that didn't last long as Karin got her phone out. Looking at her recent text messages, she frowned. She didn't have any text messages from Ryuu apart from a very brief good morning text that she had initiated this morning. She sighed heavily with annoyance.

Opening his eyes at the sound of Karin sighing, Toshiro raised an eyebrow at her on her phone. "That's funny. I didn't know being on your phone is a requirement to meditate."

"Ha ha." Karin replied, sighing again as she locked her phone, and set it down. Frowning deeply, as she crossed her arm.

"What?" Toshiro question after a moment of silence.

Karin was quiet as she kept her eyes on the ground before finally looking to Toshiro. "This is a completely a mundane problem, and I don't even know why it bothers me."

Staring at her for a long moment, Toshiro motioned towards her and him. "I have a feeling we won't be getting any meditation done until you talk about it, so just go ahead."

Once again, Karin was quiet, but finally she lifted her eyes to meet his. "My boyfriend hasn't said a single word to me the past four days, then finally this morning he says something. But that's after I've already texted him five separate times. The only thing he said to me was good morning after I said it to him this morning. Then I texted him about what he's been doing over the break so far, and he didn't say anything back to me. That was hours ago. Which is actually incredibly annoying. Because I literally told myself that I'm not that person to bug out over that kind of stuff, but it's been going on for a while now, and it's starting to get really old really fast."

After Karin stopped speaking, Toshiro stared at her for a long moment, then he started laughing.

Karin gave him a dark look. "It's not funny."

Toshiro finally stopped laughing, but he kept a smile on his face. "Have you considered the fact that he just might be busy?"

"For almost two weeks?" Karin countered, a frown on her face still. "It started after I left on this trip, but it was really small so I didn't notice it. But four days ago he just straight up stopped communicating with me."

"And him talking to you and texting you everyday is important to you?" Toshiro asked, before he held up a hand. "I'm just asking. Not judging."

"Yes it is. I mean if he has a busy day then he could just tell me that. Not not talk to me at all," Karin said, motioning towards herself then. "And I'm not that complicated of a person. I've always been really easy going. But, for some damn reason I feel like it bothers me now when it didn't before. Like yes, I feel like I am not high maintenance at all. But at the same time I require some attention here."

That, again, made Toshiro laugh, which clearly Karin wasn't happy about. She rolled her eyes, as she moved to stand up. "That's just great."

"No wait," Toshiro said, stopping his laughter after a moment. "I'm sorry for laughing, but it's just the way you said that… I understand what you're saying. Have you told him this?"

"No..." Karin trailed off, sitting back down. "I'm not really good at relationship things, so I mean it just took me until yesterday, really last night to realize that this is bothering me so much. Which of course as soon as I realized it, it's been irritating more and more everytime I think about it."

"You should probably tell him this," Toshiro advised after a moment. "He may have a lot on his plate right now, and not even realize this as a problem."

"Yeah, I should probably call him tonight…" Karin trailed off, feeling slightly weird about talking to Toshiro about her boyfriend problems. _We need to talk about something else._ "So this meditation crap, what exactly am I supposed to do so I don't die of boredom?"

"Well for starters you should probably not call it that," Toshiro replied, a smirk on his face. "And then you also need to relax and not talk for more than a minute."

"I can do that," Karin said with a nod of her head, but she noticed his raised eyebrow. "Look, I do yoga, and we're supposed to be quiet during it for the whole class. Which can last up to an hour."

"Something tells me that you still talk during it-"

Karin's laughter interrupted Toshiro's words, as her eyes sparkled. "Yeah just a little bit."

This time Toshiro joined in Karin's laughter. "I'm not surprised."

 **Later that afternoon**

Walking into her apartment, Karin found herself right in the middle of a conversation about a party. However when she did walk in the other three girls got quiet, and she just sighed. "Oh boy."

"I saw you." Kimi spoke up after Karin.

"Saw me doing what?" Karin countered, an eyebrow raised as she had no idea where Kimi was going with this.

Kimi just had this big smile on her face. "I saw you walking to your music lesson with him."

"With who-"

"Smooth light and sexy." Rose interrupted, making Naomi and Kimi laugh.

Meanwhile Karin's face turned all sorts of red. "We were just finishing up a conversation."

Laughing how red Karin was getting, Kimi waved it off. "You don't need to justify why you're with him. You do you."

"You should invite him to the party tonight." Rose suggested, sipping at the smoothie she just poured out from the blender.

"What party?" Karin asked, then her eyes widened. "Not mine right? I'm not mentally prepared to suffer through a birthday party tonight."

That made the other girls laugh, Rose grinning at Karin as she went to sit on one of the bar stools in their kitchen. "No it's just a regular party. It's going to be back at that kid's parents penthouse. You remember, the first party we went to here?"

"And don't worry," Naomi added before Karin could speak. "Your party is going to be so much better tomorrow."

"Can't wait." Was Karin's sarcastic reply, making the other girls laugh, as she slipped off her shoes and fell back over the arm of the couch to lay down.

"So are you going to invite him?" Kimi asked, looking down to Karin who had pulled out her phone.

Karin shrugged as she scrolled through her instagram feed. More specifically Orihime's, as she went on a liking spree of all the pictures of Mina she hadn't already liked. "I don't think he'd want to come. It's not really his scene."

"Well you could at least invite him," Kimi said, a smirk on her face at Karin's look. "Don't worry, we'll play nice."

"Yeah," Rose started, a growing smirk on her face. "Invite smooth light and sexy. It's the polite thing to do."

"Fine, I'll invite him," Karin replied, before shaking her head. "But you all have to call him by his actual name or I will never live that down. Got it?"

"Whatever you say babe." Was Kimi's reply, but her tone held an almost tease to it.

Rolling her eyes, Karin sat up and sighed heavily. "I'll be back. I have to go fight with my boyfriend."

"What?" Rose questioned first, an eyebrow raised.

Naomi was the next to speak. "Why? Things not going well?"

"Nope." Karin replied, sighing heavily at the thought of the phone call she was about to make.

"He's still not texting you?" Kimi asked, having been fully aware of the problem since Karin barged into her room at 7 a.m. this morning to talk about it.

Karin shook her head, and started towards the left hall. "Nope, but Toshiro thinks I should talk to him. So I'm going to have to see how this goes."

Getting back to her bedroom, she plopped down on her bed, and sighed. First she texted Toshiro.

 _Karin: So there's this party tonight, and I wanted to ask if you'd want to come? My roommates are being extremely annoying and won't stop pestering me until I text you. You don't have to come if you don't want to. I feel like it could be fun though._

After hitting send Karin released a breath she had been holding, and actually felt almost nervous having sent that. _Why am I nervous? It's just a simple question-_ Her thoughts were interrupted when her phone buzzed.

 _Toshiro: As long as your not going to make me dance._

That made Karin laugh at the thought of him dancing. Shaking her head, she was smiling big as she texted him back.

 _Karin: Cool, I'll text you the details in a bit._

After hitting send, she went to tap on Ryuu's name. Seeing his picture pop up brought a frown to her face. Remembering everything that's been bothering her all just by looking at him. Sighing after a long moment of just sitting there, she hit the call button.

 **Later that evening**

"You actually came."

"Well," Toshiro started, as he stopped beside Karin. "I told you I would, but I'm not promising to stay for more than half an hour. This isn't really my type of thing."

Karin laughed, and shook her head back at him. "That's what I said, but my roommates still wouldn't leave me alone about it," she said, then she leaned over. "But we're going to just suck it up and try not to be miserable together."

"Right." Toshiro chuckled, watching her turn to accept a beer that Kimi brought her. Raising an eyebrow, he crossed his arms. "Ichigo would not be happy if he knew you were drinking."

"That's why we're not going to tell him." Karin replied, taking a sip of the beer.

Toshiro shook his head, but didn't comment more on it. "Did you call your boyfriend?"

"No, no, no," Kimi started, shaking her head at Toshiro, as she rested a hand on Karin's shoulder. "We're not talking about him. That's anti-fun."

Karin sighed at that, then put a sarcastic smile on her face. "Yeah, apparently there isn't a problem. I'm just over-analyzing and over-reacting."

Kimi frowned at Karin's sarcastic laughter. "Don't worry about it babe. He's either a moron or he mad a very bad choice in words. Either way, don't let it ruin your birthday weekend."

"Oh I'm not," Karin said, then without another word downed the beer in her hands, and when she finished it she set the cup down and grabbed her bag. "I'm going to go take pictures from the roof."

"Isn't it off limits?" Naomi questioned, having appeared with Rose.

"I'll be alright." Karin replied before walking away. It wasn't until she walked upstairs, and out on the roof that she pulled out her camera. Her eyes briefly going to Toshiro who came with her, before focusing on her camera.

"So it didn't go so-"

"I don't want to talk about it," Karin interrupted, taking a few test shots of some of the other tall buildings. However her silence didn't last long. "At least I said something. So he knows that it's not okay with me. If he wants to ignore what I'm saying that's his choice. But I hope he's not expecting me to just put up with it. That's not me."

"No it isn't," Toshiro said after a moment of observing her taking pictures. "It's strange."

"What is?" Karin asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Seeing you not dressed in the clothes you'd wear to go play soccer," Toshiro replied, a smirk on his face. "Almost everytime I've seen you since I've met you, you've been in athletic clothes."

That actually made Karin laugh. Clearly glad with the change of subject. "Well I have to say that before this trip I couldn't see myself in jean shorts and a black tank top with daises on it, but my roommates kind of opened my eyes a little. There is apparently a world outside wearing dark clothes or athletic clothes," she said, laughing at the thought. Pausing in taking pictures, she looked him up and down. "And what about you? It's rare that I see you outside your shinigami clothes. Even now in your gigai it's like you're changing it up a little from all business."

"I guess that's true," Toshiro agreed with a shrug of his shoulders. "I enjoy the change from time to time. Which is partially why I agreed to come here tonight."

"And the other reason?" Karin asked, before she dramatically gasped. "It can't possibly be because you actually like hanging out with me could it?"

Shaking his head, Toshiro crossed his arms and smirked at her. "You're not the worst company I guess."

"Tch, and here I was thinking that we're actually becoming real friends," Karin said, then they both laughed. "I honestly have enjoyed our training more than I can really say. I mean don't get me wrong, I love my music classes. The private lessons were awkward at first, but they got better. I even got to play guitar a couple times after all this piano playing I'm doing. Of course that's because we were arguing over the correct cords to a song, and that's why I had to show her. But it was all fun."

"You seem to be getting along with your roommates well."

"Yeah, they've been amazing," Karin replied, a smile on her face as she shrugged. "And Kimi has become one of my best friends. It makes going into high school even more awesome just because she's going to be there."

"I can't believe you're actually excited to go to high school."

"I wasn't thrilled at first yes," Karin started after laughing. "But, that's another thing this program has taught me. Apparently school isn't a complete waste of time. Even college sounds cool now."

Toshiro chuckled here. "I can already imagine the shock your brother and dad are going to go through when you tell them that."

"It's not _that_ shocking," Karin said, before she cracked up laughing. "Okay, yes it is." Laughing along with Toshiro again, she smiled at him when her laughter died down. "I think I'm ready to go back inside. It's actually pretty cool out here."

"Alright," Toshiro said, as they both moved to the door. "But you should probably cut back on angrily downing an entire beer for the rest of the evening."

Karin laughed at that. "You know I'm not that mad anymore. If Ryuu's going to act like that, then whatever. I'm not going to let it ruin my time here."

"That sounds like a good idea." Toshiro agreed before they went inside. It wasn't until they got down the stairs that he stopped when Karin turned to face him.

"But, just so you know, that was not my first drink tonight."

"I guessed that when I first arrived," Toshiro said, shaking his head at her. "If you get drunk, I'm going to be laughing and taking pictures."

Karin laughed along with him this time. "As long as you show them to me tomorrow so we can laugh together, then that's fine with me."

* * *

 **A/N: This is the pre-birthday chapter. There will still be a little bit of pre-birthday things in the beginning of the next chapter, but their birthday will be in the next chapter. So how is everyone feeling with Karin and Ryuu's situation? Then Toshiro's input into it? What about Toshiro and Karin hanging out now? My favorite scene to write was the scene where Karin finally was able to get her powers steady. What was yours?**

 **Don't forget to review, favorite, and share this story with others. Also be sure to check out my other stories.**

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 **Also be sure to check out my blog: ruby1235fanfiction. blogspot .com (no spaces)**


	7. Happy Birthday

**A/N: PLEASE READ! I changed Yuzu and Karin's birthday to fit the storyline. I am one hundred percent aware it is not actually on June 18th. But, in this fanfiction, it has been changed to that date. Just wanted to go ahead and put that out there.**

 _Review:_

" _But, just so you know, that was not my first drink tonight."_

" _I guessed that when I first arrived," Toshiro said, shaking his head at her. "If you get drunk, I'm going to be laughing and taking pictures."_

 _Karin laughed along with him this time. "As long as you show them to me tomorrow so we can laugh together, then that's fine with me."_

* * *

 **The evening of the 17th, Yuzu's POV**

Dipping her paint brush in the paint, Yuzu's returned the brush to canvas. Focusing in on blending some colors, she studied the picture as she went. Her inspiration for this piece was the day she and her friends went to the lake. It was after her swim with Taro, and they had laid out in the sun afterward. Just the thought of that moment had her pausing her paint strokes. Smiling after another moment, she got more paint on her brush and continued on.

After a long day of planning her party with Hinata, then some long art classes, she went into a quiet art studio to work on an assignment for one of her classes. It was relaxing to be able to paint in peace. After realizing she had powers, she had felt like it kind of put some chaos into her life. She craved to just feel relaxed and calm again, and painting always did the trick.

She had continued on the painting for another few minutes before feeling arms slipping around her waist. She paused and smiled. "Can I help you?"

"Yeah," Taro's voice hit her ears. "I was wondering if I could bother you for a moment of your time. I know you're really busy being a famous artist and all."

Yuzu's smile widened, as she set her brush down. "I think I can spare some time," she said, laughing along with him as she turned around on the stool to face him. His arms remained around her, as he leaned his head slightly down to kiss her. However, when he did kiss her, she pulled back after a moment. "I'm covered in paint."

"I don't care," Taro replied, continuing on kissing her. Smiling when she started laughing when he kissed her nose last. "So what's the plan for your super secret birthday?"

"It's not a secret," Yuzu replied, smiling as she kissed him this time. "Hinata and I have just been so busy working on it that we haven't had a chance to talk about it."

Taro's lopsided grin appeared on his face, as he reached up to push hair back. "I know I haven't seen you since this morning, and it's killed me."

"I guess after spending pretty much all of the last few days together, it has been strange not seeing you," Yuzu agreed, smiling when they kissed again. "My party is going to be tomorrow night, and I told Hinata I wanted it to be small, but I heard her talking on the phone and she's turning it into this big extravaganza."

"I don't see you looking disappointed with that."

Yuzu shrugged at the thought. "I've always liked parties. Growing up, Karin never really wanted a big party, but I did. My dad always made us compromise. This is the first year that it's all mine. I guess I'm just not used to that."

"Well at least this way, you get the party you want this year," Taro said, kissing her forehead, then his eyes went over her shoulder to her painting. "That's from the day at the lake."

Turning back around to face her painting, Yuzu sighed and smiled at the painting. "Yeah, it was such a nice day. I still have a lot to do with my painting though."

"It's already beautiful," Taro said, smiling when their eyes met. "Do you want to grab a bite to eat?"

"Of course," Yuzu replied, picking up her paint brushes. "Let me go ahead and put this stuff away, and go set my painting over to dry."

"Oh, and by the way," Taro said, stopping her before she could move off the stool. He brought his finger to her cheek. "You've got a little something here."

Yuzu reached her hand up to her face and felt some dried paint. Smiling back at Taro, she moved to get up. "Thanks for waiting to tell me now."

"I just thought it was cute," Taro said, grinning before he kissed her, then took the paint brushes from her. "I'll go rinse these off and soak them while you find a spot for your painting."

"Thank you." Yuzu said, her smile widening as she turned back to her painting. That day by the lake was wonderful. So has most of the days here on this trip. _Taro has made this entire experience so amazing._ With that thought in her head, she picked up her painting and moved to go find a spot for it. A smile stuck on her face.

 **Two in the morning, Karin's POV**

Having just got home from the party fifteen minutes ago, Karin was just getting in bed. Her comfy t-shirt on, and her hair up in a messy bun. Because it had grown out so much it started getting in her way while she was sleeping. She had her teeth brushed, face washed and was all but ready to lay her head down on her pillow. But the buzz that came from her phone got her attention. Reaching over to grab her phone, she had to squint at the bright light for a second.

 _Toshiro: Roof?_

Tempted to say no, I'm trying to sleep, Karin stopped before she could even start typing. The sense of a hollow hit her like a brick wall. That was the motivation she needed to jump right back out of bed.

 _Karin: Give me a sec._

With that typed, she set her phone back down. Slipping on some shorts, a bra, and shoes was a task in her tired state. But by the time she was done she had motivated herself enough to grab her keys and leave her room.

After leaving the apartment she went up to the rooftop. Straightening out her shirt a little as she walked over to Toshiro who was waiting for her by the edge of the roof.

"Come on," Toshiro said, reaching his hand out for her.

However, at him clearly suggesting they jump off the roof, Karin stared silently at him like he was crazy. "I can't just jump off the roof."

"Karin-"

"Okay, I get that you shinigami can basically walk on air," Karin interrupted, waving off his eye roll. "But I like my feet on the ground."

"Do you honestly think I'm asking you to jump off a roof?" Toshiro countered, noticing that surprised her, he smirked. "Out of the two of us, I'm the only one that has the ability to as you say walk on air. So I was the one planning on doing all the jumping. You just have to trust me."

Karin hesitated for a moment as he reached his hand back over to her. Finally, after a long moment, she accepted his hand and walked closer. "If you kill me, I'm never going to forgive you."

"Right," Toshiro said with an eye roll. Without warning, he brought his arm around her and jumped off the roof. Hopping over buildings until they reached the desolate part of town that Karin encountered some hollows before. When they got to the ground, he let go of Karin. "Alright, there you go."

At Toshiro stepping back, Karin turned to him with wide eyes. "What do you mean by that?"

"There you go," Toshiro repeated, crossing his arms over his chest. Nodding his head in the direction of the hollow that wasn't that far away from them now. "Take care of it."

Karin stared at him for a moment. "I can't."

"Yes, you can," Toshiro replied, his eyes meeting hers once more. "You took down two hollows by yourself before I even showed up here in this city. Then there was one that you couldn't, and I think that may have resulted in you having a lack of confidence."

"I am confident," Karin shot back, a frown on her face. But it was lost with a more nervous look as she looked to the hollow. "Although the thought of the time I nearly could have died did cross my mind."

"You've got this," Toshiro reassured her, getting her to look back at him. "It's a low level hollow. You will be fine."

With Toshiro's reassurance, Karin turned to face the hollow. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes. Thinking back to the times she did take down the first two hollows, and how amazing it felt to have that power. How amazing it was to not to have to depend on someone else. All her life since her mom died that's the one thing she stood by.

Taking a deep breath, she started to step forward but paused. In her mind, she saw herself in this very situation, but it appeared as if she was looking at herself verses through her own eyes. She watched herself holding up her hand, and using her powers to attack the hollow. But instead of using her powers like she had before, she manipulated her powers into a katana.

Back in present time, Karin opened her eyes and stared down at her hand. _What was that?_

"Karin?" Toshiro questioned at the hollow getting closer, and Karin not yet moving.

Hearing her name got Karin back to focus. Doing what she did in her mind, she was able to shape her power into a katana. Starting forward, she met the hollow halfway, and cut through it. In that moment she felt the power she had racing through her body, and into this weapon she had made. She felt the hollow breaking away as her blade hit it. One clean slice that caused the hollow to disappear. Staring at the glowing katana a moment longer, she let the power go. Standing still for a long moment, she finally turned to Toshiro.

Toshiro actually looked slightly surprised at what she did. "How did you-"

"I don't know. One minute I was ready to go to use my powers like morning, then I was in my head. I saw myself manipulating my power into a katana, then I just did it," Karin started, moving back over to Toshiro she laughed. "That was awesome."

Smirking at her laughter Toshiro held out his hand. "Come on. We need to get you back, as we wouldn't want you exhausted on your birthday."

Karin nodded, as she accepted his hand. "As exciting as that was, I really need some sleep."

Once again Toshiro pulled her closer to put his arm around her, and in a matter of minutes, they were back on the rooftop of her building. Letting go of her, he smirked, as he looked her over. "You certainly know how to dress to go take down a hollow."

"Shut up," Karin shot back, smirking right back, as she pulled at her larger t-shirt. "I was practically in bed when you texted me. I had to rush to get the rest of my clothes on." Laughing lightly, as she pulled at her t-shirt again. "This is actually pretty comfortable to fight hollows in."

Toshiro chuckled and shook his head. "Right well I guess that it's okay after you just took down a hollow in it."

Karin laughed again at her next thought. "Maybe it's also because I'm still a little buzzed after the party tonight."

"After how much you drank, I'm surprised you're just a little buzzed," Toshiro shot back, still smirking. "I'd have to admit. The party wasn't terrible."

"I know, I think I saw you smile a few times," Karin replied, laughing along with Toshiro. "Thank you for coming though. It was really a lot of fun. And thank you for letting me take down the hollow. That was also a lot of fun… Not so much the jumping off the roof part."

Toshiro crossed his arms and smirked as he watched her. "Good work tonight. Your have much more control over your powers now."

"Thanks," Karin replied, moving to go back to the door to go inside. Pausing, she looked back to him. "I have a great teacher."

 **The next morning, June 18th, Yuzu's POV**

Opening her eyes after a long moment of trying to go back to sleep, Yuzu focused on her right. There was Taro. He had his head propped up with one hand, and the other arm was around her. He was watching her and smiled when their eyes met.

"Happy birthday."

Yuzu briefly smiled at Taro's words, then turned and buried her head back into the bed. Partially against his chest, which she could feel shake with his laughter.

"Hey, you awake?" Taro questioned through his laughter, trying to stop. "You should be. You're a whole year older."

"I just want to go back to sleep." Was Yuzu's mumble.

Once again Taro laughed, this time as he stroked her hair back to try to look at her face. "Unfortunately I can't let you do that. I'm under strict instructions from Hinata to get you up and moving for whatever master plan she has. But don't worry. We can go grab some donuts for breakfast, then I can send you off for your birthday things."

Yuzu sighed after a moment and moved her head so she could look at him. "Thank you," she started, kissing him, then moving her head right back to where it was before. "Five more minutes?"

That had Taro grinning as he continued stroking her hair back. "I think that can be arranged."

 **Karin's POV, 10 a.m.**

Opening her eyes, Karin was greeted with a lot of colors. Bright pink, green, purple, blue. Everywhere. _What th_ _e_ _?_ Lifting herself up a bit to see herself surrounded by colorful streamers, balloons, and decorations everywhere. Taking her phone, she went to her group text from her roommates. Each had texted a simple balloon emoji around seven that morning. That made Karin smirk and shake her head.

 _Karin: What the hell you guys?_

It hadn't been more than thirty seconds after Karin sent the text that her door burst open, and in came her roommates. "Happy birthday!" Was their chorus as there was confetti thrown, and the lights flipped on. More confetti came down from Karin's ceiling fan.

"Happy birthday babe," Kimi said, being the first to crawl onto the bed beside Karin. Showing the very obvious camera she had used to film the entire thing.

Laughing as she raised her hand up to catch some of the confetti falling. Karin held a hand in front of her face. "I just woke up and I don't need to scar whoever is watching this tape in the future," she said, then she laughed again. "You guys are crazy."

"Maybe," Naomi started as she and Rose joined them on the bed. Grinning as threw up her handful of confetti above all of them. "But if we're crazy that means you are too."

"I'm not denying that," Karin replied making them all laugh. Holding up her phone, she snapped a few pictures of the room, then her and her friends. Wanting to remember this moment. Her nose started picking up on a good smelling aroma. "What's that smell?"

"Oh, just you wait," Naomi said, as she started nudging Karin to get off the bed.

At Kimi still filming her as she was getting out of bed, Karin just held up a hand to the lens. "Kimi can you give me a second here. I'm not wearing pants."

That had them all laughing. After Karin put on pants, they ventured out into the living room. There were more streamers and balloons all over the place. As well as a Happy Birthday banner across the wall.

"I cooked breakfast," Rose started, a smile on her face as she went over to the spread of breakfast foods they had laid out. "But don't worry, Naomi cooked some eggs and bacon for you to have as well. I won't make you turn fully to my vegan diet on your birthday."

"I don't know," Karin said, as she got up on one of the bar stools. "I would kind of like one of your amazing smoothies though."

"You're in luck then." Rose laughed, as she handed over one of her infamous smoothies.

Karin smiled as she took a sip of the smoothie, and sighed happily. "I need this in my life every day."

"I've also got your life in a cup," Kimi added as she handed Karin coffee in one of her favorite coffee mugs she bought recently. It had little pink and blue popsicles on it. "You can always drink it later though."

"I'll have them both at the same time," Karin replied, laughing along with her friends. Eying the decorations, then the food again, she smiled. "Guys this is so sweet."

"It's no problem," Kimi said, as she smiles at Karin. "Just wait until you see what we have planned for the day."

Karin's smile dropped right off her face. "Should I be scared?"

"Definitely," Naomi said for the other girls, making them all laugh again.

They all started to dig into the food, and Karin finally got around to going through her texts from her friends and family back home. She was just about finished going through them when her phone buzzed again. Seeing it was from Toshiro, she clicked on the message.

 _Toshiro: Well you've made it fifteen years and haven't died yet, so that's progress._

Laughing at his way of telling her happy birthday, Karin shook her head as she started texting him back.

 _Karin: Yeah with me attracting so much danger and all, I'm just as surprised as you are._

Sending that text, her focus went to the people that have texted her this morning. Ryuu wasn't one of them. That took the smile off her face to be replaced with a frown.

Kimi noticed Karin's frown and took her phone from her. At Karin starting to protest, Kimi held up her other hand. "Let me guess, Ryuu hasn't texted you," she said, watching Karin nod, she sighed and shook her head. "Well, you don't think about it. I'm holding your phone hostage to keep you from thinking about it."

"But, I was texting Toshiro," Karin said, noticing how that got all of the girls to look at her.

Kimi had a smile growing on her face. "The not boyfriend friend?"

"Smooth light and sexy?" Naomi added through a mouthful of pancake.

"You've met him, so is it really necessary to still call him that?" Karin asked.

"Yes." The other three girls chorused.

Karin shook her head and grabbed her fork to go back to eating. "I'm going to tell him that."

"And?" Naomi questioned, a smirk on her face. "Then you'll have to tell him how that nickname came to be."

Karin was quiet here and the girls laughed. Kimi just patted Karin's arm. "Don't worry, I'll tell you if he texts you."

"Thanks for being so kind." Karin shot back sarcastically making the other girls laughed, finally she joined in on the laughter too.

 **Noon, Yuzu's POV**

"Are you kidding me?"

"Nope, this is actually happening," was Hinata's reply to Yuzu's question. They were in one of the bigger art studios on the institute's campus. In front of them was a large canvas, with several balloons filled with paint all over it. She was grinning at Yuzu's shocked expression. "Just one part of my birthday present to you."

"This is amazing," Yuzu said, as she set her bag down. Motioning to her clothes. "I totally get why you said to dress in clothes I don't mind getting dirty."

Hinata was all smiles, as she grabbed the bag of darts out of her bag. "I thought you'd like this. I was thinking that if you like the painting after we're done, I can get it shipped back home for you. Part of your birthday present and all."

"That would be cool, then I can have the memory forever." Yuzu replied with a smile, as she moved to take off her shoes before standing on the tarp that was on the floor around the canvas. "So Taro told me that I needed to be here at noon. Did you two plan out my entire birthday day?"

"Yep. I needed a partner in crime, and since it couldn't be you it had to be him," Hinata said, laughing at the thought of what they had planned. Her eyes went to Yuzu after taking off her own shoes. "So how's that going by the way?"

"It's nice," Yuzu replied right away, as she smiled big at the thought of Taro. Grabbing her water bottle from her bag, she started to take off the top. "I wasn't expecting any of this to happen, but I'm happy that it did. I don't really know what to call what it is we're doing, but it's a lot of fun."

"Soooo," Hinata started off after a moment of silence of setting the darts out for them to grab easily. "How far have you two gone?"

Choking on the water she had in her mouth, Yuzu coughed a few times, as her face turned red. Shaking her head quickly at Hinata's raised eyebrow, Yuzu coughed a little more. "We've just kissed. That's all."

Laughing at Yuzu's reaction, Hinata waved it off. "I didn't mean to make you all flustered, I was just asking… Even though you're not doing anything now, just remember to be safe."

"Hinata!" Yuzu exclaimed, smiling and shaking her head at her friend's laughter. "Let's just do this, okay?"

"Okay, but be careful not to get any paint on the floor," Hinata said, finally stopping her laughter to take on a serious look. "I promised our director we wouldn't make a big mess."

"I'll try my best, but I'm not making any promises." Yuzu replied, picking up a dart, and turning to face the canvas. Picking out a red balloon in the top center of the painting, she started her aim towards it. She gained an almost instinctive feeling as to where she needed to angle the dart, and how much power she needed to use when she finally released it. To her surprise, the dart soared through the air and popped that red balloon. She smiled, as she watched the red paint spilling down the canvas.

Hinata had watched Yuzu do it, and clapped when she hit the mark. "You're pretty good at this."

Shrugging her shoulders, Yuzu reached to grab another dart. "Maybe it's my calling in life." That had them both laughing, as Yuzu prepared to throw her next dart to a pretty green balloon that wasn't that far away from the red balloon that she hit before. Green was Taro's favorite color. Focusing as she aimed for that balloon, she released the dart and watched it soar through the air. Green paint trailing down the painting made her smile grow.

 **A couple hours later, Karin's POV**

"So..."

Hearing Kimi's voice as they had stopped in front of one of the buildings they were walking by, Karin hummed as she was looking down at her phone. Putting up another Instagram picture of her and the girls at the coffee shop they were just at. It was her 6th picture she had put up that day so far, and she was on a roll.

"Didn't you say you want to get your belly button pierced?"

Karin, still not completely paying attention, nodded. "I thought it'd be cool. You and Rose have yours done."

"Well here's your chance," Rose said, smiling at Karin as she motioned to the building next to them. "You can get it done here."

That had Karin finally looking up from her phone to see they were standing outside a tattoo parlor. Staring at the building for a long moment, she looked back to the other girls. "My dad will kill me."

"I mean it's your body," Rose pointed out, crossing her arms. "Plus it's just a piercing you can take it out if you don't like it anymore. It's not like you're getting a permanent tattoo or something."

Karin was once again quiet as she stared at the tattoo parlor. "Is it even legal?"

"It is in this city," Kimi replied, waving off Karin's raised eyebrow. "You don't need consent from your parents. You just have to be fifteen or older."

Noticing the hesitation in Karin's eyes, Naomi rested a hand on her shoulder. "I'll do it with you. I've wanted to get mine done for a while now, and it'll be fun to do it with someone else."

"Okay." Karin agreed after another moment. Soon enough, they were in the tattoo parlor. Naomi just got hers done, and that was enough to get Karin to one hundred percent confirm she wanted hers done. She was sitting down and waiting for the guy to come back with the one she picked out. Having just handed Kimi her phone, she smirked. "You've got to film this."

"Are you sure you want proof of this?" Kimi questioned with a raised eyebrow. "Your dad might see it."

Shrugging her shoulders, Karin rested her hands back behind her to lean back on. "I mean he'll find out eventually. I just want it filmed so I can show Orihime- she's my brother's girlfriend by the way." She quickly explained that last part to Rose and Naomi who hadn't really heard much about Orihime.

"Are you going to show your sister?" Naomi asked.

Rose nodded, as her eyes went to Karin. "Or not? Because you said she was one of those follow the rule types."

"I don't know yet," Karin replied honestly. "When Yuzu and I were growing up, anytime I broke the rules, Yuzu would tell on me. It wasn't always intentional. She just can't help herself from telling the truth. So I figure what she doesn't know won't hurt."

The guy came back in the room, his eyes on Karin. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah," Karin replied, looking over to Kimi. "I want it all."

Kimi laughed as she turned on the camera. "Don't worry, I got you."

 **That evening, 7 o'clock, Yuzu's POV**

Humming to the song that was playing, Yuzu focused back on the big mirror in her room. Finishing the last touches of her makeup while waiting for her curling wand to heat up. Her party was starting at eight, and she still had her hair to do and to get dressed. She was currently in a loose quarter sleeved sweatshirt that went down to mid-thigh. Something she usually slept in, but it was just the closest thing to her when she got out of the shower an hour ago.

She had just grabbed the glove for the curling wand just when there was a knock on the door. Looking over to see she had it locked, she got up and went to open it. _It's probably just Hinata wanting to know how much longer it's going to take me to get ready._ She thought, but when she opened the door she was face to face with Taro. "Oh, I thought you were Hinata."

That had Taro grinning back at her. "Don't look so disappointed."

"I'm not," Yuzu replied, as she got on her tiptoes to kiss him. "I just look like a crazy person."

"You don't look like _that much_ of a crazy person," Taro replied, his grin turning to a smirk.

"Hey!" Yuzu exclaimed, shaking her head at his laughter. At the feel of a slight draft on her legs, Yuzu looked down and remembered what she was wearing. "And I'm not wearing pants."

Chuckling as Yuzu had pulled him inside her room so she could shut her door quickly, Taro moved over to sit on her bed. "It's not like it's a big deal. You sleep next to me not wearing pants. It's like the same thing."

"Yeah well, I don't want to advertise me not wearing pants to the world." Yuzu replied, laughing herself as she moved over to where she was before on the floor. Turning down her music, she grabbed her curling wand and started to curl her hair.

Taro laid back on Yuzu's bed and moved his hands back behind his head. "So I have a question. There's this huge birthday party for this very beautiful girl that I know, and I want to ask her to be my date."

Yuzu paused in curling her hair, as she smiled. "She'll have to think about it."

 **A couple hours later, 9 o'clock**

Yuzu laughed as she opened the gift Yukio got her. It was a plain black snapback.

"You keep bothering me about mine, so I figured getting one for you would help get you off my back." Yukio told her, grinning at her laughter.

Putting the hat on her head, it actually didn't look that bad on top of her curled hair. Along with it, she was wearing a pale green dress with yellow sunflowers all over it, and her black leather jacket that she just got from another one of her friends, and white converse shoes. She looked to her friends with a grin on her face. "How do I look?"

While her friends were laughing, Hinata shook her head but grinned at her friend. "You're cracking me up."

"My turn," Taro said after he stopped laughing. Handing Yuzu a small red box, wrapped with a white bow.

Opening the box, Yuzu smiled big as pulled out the gift. It was a really pretty silver bracelet with red jewels on it. "Oh, it's so pretty."

Taro was just grinning ear to ear, as their eyes met. "You know because you're someone who-"

"Likes the color red," Yuzu interrupted, still smiling big as she set the box down to hold the bracelet. "Thank you so much. Will you put it on?"

Nodding, Taro took the bracelet and put it on her. Watching her smile grow made his own grow. He tapped the rim of her snapback. "We can match now."

"That's right," Yuzu said, then turned her hat around backward, and brought out her phone to turn her camera on them. "We're almost identical."

Laughing Taro shook his head and leaned his head down to kiss her. "Happy birthday."

After presents came time for cake, which separated Yuzu and Taro up for a while. It wasn't until Yuzu found a hand pulling her out on the balcony of the building they were having the party in. Her eyes met Taro's, and she smiled. "Hello there-"

Yuzu was interrupted when Taro kissed her. It was a long wonderful kiss that had them both catching their breath when they broke apart. Taro's lopsided grin appeared on his face. "I wanted to do that earlier, but you have that thing about PDA."

Laughing, Yuzu shook her head at his grin. "I just don't like to show off that much in front of other people," she said, lifting up on her tiptoes to kiss him this time. "So why are we outside?"

"I want you to dance with me."

"What?" Yuzu asked, raising an eyebrow as Taro's hands went to wrap around her waist.

"Dance with me," Taro repeated, his grin appearing to widen when she brought her hands up to his chest, then slid over his shoulders to clasp behind his neck. "This is what I wanted to do with you on your birthday."

"Really? You just wanted to slow dance with me?" Yuzu questioned once again but smiled when Taro nodded this time. "Look at you being all romantic."

Taro laughed back at her. "I can be romantic. What's more romantic than drinking, then going back to my place to eat food and watch movies?"

It was Yuzu who was laughing this time, and her eyes sparkled as she looked at him. "That's the perfect definition of true romance," she said, making them both laugh. When their laughter settled, she kept a smile on her face. "Hinata told me how you helped with getting some of the parties together today. Thank you."

"Well it was your planning, I was just helping with some of the heavy liftings. But you're welcome," Taro replied, his grin softened to a smile. He paused in their slow dance to lower his head to kiss her. When they broke their kiss, their eyes met. "You're amazing Yuzu. You really are."

 **10 p.m., Karin's POV**

Karin's party had been going on for about an hour now, and it wasn't nearly as dreadful as she thought it would be. It was actually pretty fun. Fun enough to have Karin actually dancing with Kimi. Something she wouldn't usually do. When the song they were dancing to ended, they moved back over to their friends all happy and laughing.

Karin caught sight of Toshiro right away. He was leaning back against the arm of the couch her friends were on. His arms crossed, and he was smirking at her. Skipping right over, she smiled big at him. "Hey, look who showed up."

Toshiro smirked back at Karin. "Happy birthday."

"Thank you," Karin replied with a smile.

Having been looking at what Karin was wearing, Toshiro raised an eyebrow. "That certainly is interesting."

"Yeah, I bought it today," Karin replied, pulling at the sweatshirt she was wearing. It was mainly white with colorful cupcakes all over it. It kind of worked with her hair that was curled, half up and half down. Just looking at it had her grinning. "I know it's different than what I usually wear, but I love it."

"It is different I'll give you that," Toshiro replied, chuckling at her cheeky grin. "You're clearly having fun."

Knowing that he was referring to her dancing, Karin's eyes twinkled as she laughed. "You should try it sometime."

"I'll let you do all the dancing." Toshiro shot back at her tease. Shaking his head at her laughter. "Have you already started drinking?"

"Just a little bit," Karin replied, still giggly as her eyes went to Kimi and her other friends. "I want cupcakes."

"Well we can go ahead and do the birthday stuff," Kimi replied, but she held a smirk on her face. "But that means all of it."

"No singing please." Karin shot back, pointing at Kimi. "We agreed on no singing."

That had made all of her friends laugh, and Kimi's smirk only grew. "Yeah, no. We're definitely singing happy birthday to you, and you're going to like it."

"Well now that you've said that I have no choice." Karin shot back, once again they all laughed, and she joined in. "As long as I get a cupcake, that's all that matters."

 **11:30 p.m.**

Snapping a few pictures, Karin paused to look out at the view. They had gone up to the roof to take a breather from the party. "This was such a great idea."

"I tend to have great ideas sometimes," Toshiro replied, smirking as he shook his head. "Now if only I could convince your brother of that, then we could spend less time arguing with one another."

Laughing, Karin shook her head, as she looked through the pictures she had taken so far. "Wow," she started, admiring some of the footage she caught off the taller buildings in the city. The moon resting in the sky behind them. Stepping closer to show Toshiro some of the pictures. "These are amazing."

"They are," Toshiro agreed, then he moved his hand to rest on top of the camera lightly. "Enough pictures."

Karin nodded but didn't put the camera away. "Okay, but just a few more."

"Nope, put the camera away."

Frowning at Toshiro's words, Karin finally put the camera away in her bag. "I just like taking a lot of pictures, okay? I mean, it's kind of my thing."

"That's fine, but I just figured you would rather work with your powers," Toshiro started, a smirk on his face. "I know you did well with the hollow last night. But, I also know you really just want to hold that power in your hands again. So go for it."

"Really?" Karin questioned, her eyes lighting up.

Toshiro just nodded. "Really."

"Okay," Karin said quickly, clapping her hands together, but she paused. "Are you sure? Because yesterday when we trained, you said I should be meditating-"

"Karin," Toshiro interrupted, his smirk growing. "I'm not testing you. I'm being serious."

Seeing that Toshiro was indeed serious, Karin finally nodded and held up her hand. Focusing in on it, she was able to bring her power to her hand. Just holding it in her hand was enough to bring a smile to her face.

Toshiro watched the smile growing on Karin's face as she held her power. When he noticed her hold on it started to waiver, he lifted his hands up under her hand. Holding it to steady her power out. "Relax. You've got it."

Karin hardly noticed what he had said, as her focus was more on the inner shock to her system that went through her when he touched her. It was like the world around her slowed down, and it was just the two of them.

Having lifted his eyes back up to meet hers, Toshiro kept her gaze for a long moment. It felt as if her eyes were pulling him in, and he couldn't look away.

It was quiet between them, but when the wind picked back up that seemed to get them both to focus back down on her power. On the inside, Karin felt like she could hardly breathe. Her insides were fluttering, and she wasn't exactly sure what just happened between them.

* * *

 **A/N: Birthday chapter is down! I was really excited to write this one. Pretty much every scene with Yuzu and Taro I loved writing, and I also loved writing the scene with Karin getting her belly button pierced, and the end. What did you all think of the ending scene with Karin and Toshiro? What's your take on it? And what was your favorite scene?**

 **Don't forget to review, favorite, and share this story with others. Also be sure to check out my other stories.**

 **Be sure to like my page (Ruby1235 Fanfiction) on Facebook and follow me on twitter ( Ruby1235Fanfic) for updates, sneak peeks, and hints for current and new stories :)**

 **Also be sure to check out my blog: ruby1235fanfiction. blogspot .com (no spaces)**


	8. Reunited

_Review:_

 _Karin hardly noticed what he had said, as her focus was more on the inner shock to her system that went through her when he touched her. It was like the world around her slowed down, and it was just the two of them._

 _Having lifted his eyes back up to meet hers, Toshiro kept her gaze for a long moment. It felt as if her eyes were pulling him in, and he couldn't look away._

 _It was quiet between them, but when the wind picked back up that seemed to get them both to focus back down on her power. On the inside, Karin felt like she could hardly breathe. Her insides were fluttering, and she wasn't exactly sure what just happened between them._

* * *

 **A few days later, 21st of June**

The sound of her alarm blaring in her ears had Karin jumping straight out of bed. Quickly turning the alarm off before going over to grab some clothes from her closet. Trying her best to put her clothes on as quick as possible, she was so focused it that she didn't hear her bedroom door open. When she did get her clothes on, she darted back across her room to start brushing her hair.

"Wow, do you always jump out of bed and run around like a psycho?" Kimi's voice was heard first before she stepped into Karin's room. She was dressed in her pajamas still, and had apparently heard Karin jumping out of bed.

"I just have to go quickly- damn it, I forgot to set up for an uber to come pick me up." Karin scowled as she finished brushing her hair before she grabbed her cupcake sweatshirt.

"There are taxi's all around," Kimi pointed out, watching Karin continue to dart around to get her stuff together. "We're right next to the square so it shouldn't be that hard."

"I guess." Karin spoke through a mumble as she was putting all her stuff in her bag. She hardly noticed when Kimi disappeared from her room. Finishing up after a couple more minutes, she herself left her room after grabbing her keys. She came face to face with Kimi just as she got into the living room.

Kimi was holding out a travel mug. "Life in a cup."

"Thanks boo." Karin replied, accepting the coffee, as she started towards the door and left. Walking down the hall, she hit the button on the elevator a few times. _Okay, I have to be there at 9:30. With city traffic, I should just barely be able to make it in time. Hopefully._

 **Around 25 minutes later**

The sound of a horn from a boat was heard over the sound of the hundred people that were around Karin. Searching through the crowds, she cursed lowly at her shortness. Cutting through an available opening between some people, her eyes went over to the ferry boat that was now letting people get off of it. That's when she finally got sight of the person she was looking for. A grin stretched across her face, as she took off toward the person who had noticed her as well. Meeting them halfway, Karin threw her arms around the person. "Yuzu."

Yuzu laughed, as she hugged her sister right back. "I missed you."

"I know, I've actually missed you to," Karin replied making them both laugh, as they broke apart to meet each others eyes. "We have so much to catch up on."

"Well it's good that I'm going to be here the rest of the day and tomorrow morning isn't it?" Yuzu countered smiling. Her art program was on one of their travel trips. They'd be there today for one class in the evening, and then a tour of an art museum the next morning. Then they'd be going back to Moss Tree. But since the class she'd have wouldn't be until later in the day, she had the first half of the day to spend with her sister.

"So this is the other half?"

Hearing a male voice speaking to them, Karin looked over to see a guy with longer dirty blonde hair with a paint splattered snapback on. The person seemed almost familiar to her, but she couldn't put a name or where she saw him before.

Yuzu just smiled at the guy, then she looked from him to her sister. "Karin this is Taro."

"Hey." Karin said, watching closely how Yuzu looked at this guy. _She keeps smiling weird at him._

Yuzu turned to face Taro, her smile still on her face. "I'll see you later today okay?"

"Can't wait." Taro replied, stepping closer to Yuzu, he leaned down to kiss her. Looking back at Karin once more. "It was nice to meet you."

Then he had walked off to go find his friends. Meanwhile, Karin was just staring at Yuzu with a growing smirk on her face.

Yuzu was turning all red in the face, as she held up a hand. "Don't go there."

"I'm not," Karin started, still smirking as she looped her arm through her sisters. "We certainly have a lot to catch up on now don't we?"

 **A half hour later**

"So you are sort-of-kind-of-dating that Taro guy I just met?" Karin asked, as she and Yuzu grabbed their orders from the barista at the coffee shop they had walked into.

Yuzu shrugged as they sat down. She was sipping on some tea, and her sister ordered a coffee. "I mean I guess we're dating. We both established that we like each other, we just never really established if it's going any further than that."

Karin got this grin on her face, as they settled on one of the cozy couches farther away from the other people in the coffee shop. "Well you certainly are doing a lot of art aren't you?"

"And what about you?" Yuzu countered surprisingly quick, as she had an eyebrow raised. "You're training left and right, then I see from your snapchats about watching Grey's Anatomy re-runs every night that you're definitely not practicing music at night."

That had Karin laughing. _That's not my entire evening, but what Yuzu doesn't know won't hurt her._

Yuzu sipped her tea again, as she turned more to her sister. "And what's this drama with Ryuu? Are you two okay?"

"He just hasn't been talking to me. Like literally there it was about four days of radio silence on his end, then I called him to let him know it was bothering me that he's not really talking to me, then he had the nerve to tell me I was over-analyzing the situation. Even after that conversation I still hardly hear a peep from him. He didn't even call or text me happy birthday until really late yesterday evening. And it was just a simple text," Karin replied honestly. Since Yuzu seemed to have a guy in her life now, she figured there was no reason to hold back, as Yuzu kind of knew what it was like to have a boyfriend now. _Well whatever they are that is._

"That wouldn't have to do with the photos you were uploading to your social media would it?" Yuzu questioned, seeing Karin's look she shook her head. "Wow that's annoying."

Karin nodded, as a scowl grew on her face. "I know, and when he texted it to me I just didn't reply because I wasn't going to let it ruin my night," she said, then she sighed as she looked down at her coffee. "I honestly don't know if we're okay. After I called him the day before our birthday, I just have been growing more and more annoyed everytime I see the fact that he hasn't texted or called."

"How long are you going to let it go on?" Yuzu asked, noticing that had Karin raising an eyebrow, she shrugged. "Well I mean it's your relationship so you can do whatever you want. I just don't think you need to stay in this situation if it keeps bothering you. Like call him up and tell him what's going on and how it's not okay with you."

"I already did that-"

"But did you really?" Yuzu interrupted, an eyebrow raised right back at Karin when she was silent. "You have to really tell him that it's not okay with you, not just that you notice he's not talking to you as much. He can either change or you need to just end it."

Karin was quiet for a long moment. "I know that I need to do it, but I'm dreading it. I'm just hoping he'll come around, and whatever is going on will just fix itself. But I don't think I can keep doing this."

Yuzu studied her sister. Feeling surprised in herself for being the one to tell Karin what to do in this kind of situation. _It's not like I have dating experience. I'm like sort-of-kind-of dating Taro, and that's pretty much it on my_ _dating_ _resume._ Feeling for a need of a change of subject, Yuzu focused back on her sister again. "So you've been spending your time training with Toshiro. How's that been?"

"It's been awesome," Karin replied, her eyes brightening just by the thought. "I never really knew how cool it felt to have powers, but now that I have it's been exhilarating. You talked to Akira about it right?"

"Yeah she says she thinks we're shinigami but not, like her and Rin. I don't really know what that means, but I mean it's not like it really affects me," Yuzu said, noticing Karin's raised eyebrow she waved her hand. "Look Karin, I know you are all for having powers and stuff. It's just not really what I wake up looking forward to."

"But our powers are so cool-" Karin stopped to take a breath. "But if it's not your thing, that's cool too."

Yuzu chuckled at that so easily accepting of that. "So you've been spending a lot of time with Toshiro. Does he get on your nerves as much as he does Ichigo's?"

"Nah, he's actually pretty cool. I feel like we're like real friends now after spending so much time together with my somewhat training," Karin replied, her thoughts went to the night of her birthday. Them together holding her powers. His hands on her hand. That fluttering feeling. Her eyes went to Yuzu. "When Taro is around you, how exactly do you feel?"

"Uh..." Yuzu trailed off as she tried to think. A smile started to grow on her face when she thought of it. "Well it's just like this tingling feeling starts up inside of me. But when we kissed for the first time that feeling amplified."

"Right." Karin said, looking down at her coffee. _Is that how I felt with Toshiro the other night? No it can't be. I think I felt like that with Ryuu, but now… I'm not so sure anymore._

Yuzu noticed Karin's look fall, and frowned. _She must be thinking about her situation with Ryuu. I should find something to distract her._ "So did you look at the picture of Mina that Orihime sent earlier this morning?"

 **Later on that day, Yuzu's POV**

 _Yuzu: Text me the address to your apartment as soon as you can. I'll be there as soon as my art class is done in a couple hours._

 _Karin: K_

Rolling her eyes, Yuzu sighed at Karin's lack of real communication here. She shook her head as she started to type back to tell her sister that.

"Hey."

Hearing Taro's voice made Yuzu's attention go completely away from her phone. He just walked in the door to the auditorium they were having class in. When he got close they kissed, and she smiled. "Hey."

"So having fun with your sister?" Taro asked, taking Yuzu's hand as they moved to go sit down in some seats in the auditorium.

"Yeah, we've had a lot to catch up on," Yuzu replied, then they sat down. "I've missed you though."

"Really?" Taro questioned, as he held up his phone. "The thousands of snapchats you sent me weren't clear on that."

Yuzu grinned at his mention of her snaps. "Well I have to say that at that point I was just trying to get on your nerves a little… Did you have to screen shot the silly ones?"

"Yes, but only because I thought they were cute," Taro said, laughing at Yuzu's blush. He leaned over and kissed her. "They made my day."

Yuzu's smile returned to her face hearing that, as she leaned over and they kissed again. However their kiss was interrupted by the sound of Hinata's voice.

"Yeah okay, can you refrain from being adorable in front of my face?"

Yuzu and Taro pulled apart, and Yuzu looked over to see Hinata, Shin, and Yukio sitting down on her other side. "Hey guys. How's the city been treating you?"

"Great, we already found a party to go to tonight," Yukio replied kicking his feet up on the seats in front of them. "Are you going with us?"

"I would, but my evening is already strictly dedicated to my sister," Yuzu said, then waved her hand at her friends. "But I'd really like for you guys to meet her. So if you want, you can come over to her apartment for a couple hours after class."

Shin nodded as he shared a look with Yukio. "Sounds good."

"I want to meet her," Hinata said cheerfully, as she pulled out her phone to get on instagram. "I want to talk to her about that amazing sweatshirt that she had on the night of your birthday."

"How do you know about that?" Yuzu asked, an eyebrow raised.

"I follow her instagram," Hinata replied as she held up her phone to show Karin's instagram to Yuzu. She laughed at Yuzu still raising an eyebrow at her. "I mean can you blame me? Her photos are all amazing."

"She's into photography," Yuzu said, before her eyes went to Taro. "Do you want to come over tonight to hang out?"

"Well I would but my friends and I have an art project to work on," Taro said, pausing so he could show Yuzu some pictures on his phone. "You know the sketches we've been working on. It's for this large painting that my friend's dad wants us to do for his company out here."

"Right well just know I'll be missing you." Yuzu told him smiling at his lopsided grin. Her eyes moved over to the door when the teacher walked in with a huge binder full of information in hand. _This is going to be a long lecture._

 **A couple hours later, Karin's POV**

"So you didn't tell your sister that you've been partying every night?"

"It hasn't been every night."

"Okay, well almost every night."

"You know Toshiro, you've actually attended some of these parties with me-"

"Three of them, and one was your birthday so that doesn't count," Toshiro interrupted Karin, smirking at her eye roll. They were in Karin's room after having got a little meditation training in. They had been switching off between getting Karin to use her powers, then meditation each time they had trained together over the past few days. He was sitting on her bed, and watching her cleaning up her room. "Anyway, before this turns into a world war three argument, let's change the subject. So how was reuniting with your sister? What did you talk to about? I mean I know it can't be music, because you hardly do any music here."

"Yeah I do, you're just not here for the music classes," Karin replied, laughing at how that had Toshiro rolling his eyes. She reached for her laundry basket next to put the clean clothes away. "Uh we just kind of got up to speed on life things. Oddly enough we talked about boys. Did you know she had a boyfriend?"

"Now why in the world would I know something like that?" Toshiro countered, chuckling at Karin's look. "Does it seem like I talk to your sister on a daily basis?"

"Okay, well she does," Karin started, ignoring his question, and moving on. "Well they aren't really in a relationship according to her, but I mean from what she tells me it might as well be. They spend all their time with one another, they kiss each other like it's just a normal thing, they might as well be together." She stopped to sigh heavily with a clearly unhappy look now. "And we also talked about Ryuu. Which that's the point in which the conversation turned sour."

Toshiro was quiet at her bringing up Ryuu, as he watched her. "That's still a problem?"

"Yeah, a big stupid problem," Karin said, finishing up putting her clothes away, but she didn't get up when she was done. She remained sitting on the floor, as her eyes met Toshiro's. "He hasn't said hardly anything to me. I mean he said happy birthday the night of my birthday, and that's about it. Which Yuzu seems to agree with me on the fact that he probably only did that because he saw on my pictures and snaps about it being my birthday. He'll ignore my text messages, then I see that he's on Twitter or snapchat. So I know his phone is clearly working. I'm just over it. Yuzu says that I just need to talk to him. But I'm dreading it because I have a feeling it's not going to go well after how well the first call went."

Toshiro hummed quietly for a moment. "Look at it this way, you've been trying to reach out to him. He's the one that's not responding. You're trying to make it work, but there's only so much you can do."

"So do you think I should break up with him?" Karin asked him rather bluntly.

"It's not my place," Toshiro replied right away, but noticed her frown. Staying quiet for a long moment, he thought about what he should say. One side of him told him to continue saying it was none of his business. But there was another side that was compelling him to speak out. "But, you don't seem very happy. If he doesn't care that it bothers you, if he's not going to change, then that really makes the decision for you. You should be with someone who wants to spend the day with you, and someone who wants to text and call you when you're away from each other."

Sighing heavily at Toshiro's words, Karin rubbed her forehead and laid back on the floor. "How did Yuzu get so damn lucky? She's got this guy who wants to do nothing more than see her and talk to her all day. The whole time we were out together this morning they were constantly snapchatting or texting each other. She makes it seem so easy."

Karin's door opened at that moment, and Kimi walked in. Her eyes had first gone to where Toshiro was, then down. Seeing Karin on the floor, she raised an eyebrow. "Why are you-"

"My life is terrible." Karin interrupted Kimi's words, as she rubbed her temples.

Appearing not bothered at Karin's words, Kimi got out her phone. "Right, well I'm ordering pizza for dinner tonight, and I need to know what kind of pizza Yuzu likes."

"Just whatever you want to order." Karin replied after a moment of dramatically sighing.

"No," Kimi disagreed, frowning at Karin. "Your sister is our guest tonight, and I want to get something she likes. Oh, and her friends too. What do they like?"

"How would I know? I've never even met them," Karin said, then went back to focusing on her sister. "Yuzu would literally eat cardboard if she knew you got it for her. She's that nice of a person. So it really doesn't matter-" Breaking off at the glare Kimi was giving her, Karin gulped. "Cheese. Just plain cheese pizza. I don't know what her friends would want, so just get a mixture."

"Thanks babe, you've been so incredibly helpful," Kimi shot back sarcastically, then she turned to leave the room, but she stopped. She wasn't looking at Karin, but at her phone. "Have you talked to the boy yet?"

That made Karin yell with irritation. "Why does everyone keep reminding me?"

"Well you brought it up to me, so that doesn't really count." Toshiro pointed out, smirking at how Kimi had referred to Ryuu as "the boy". He discovered that's what Karin's roommates have been referring to Ryuu as for the past few days, and he thought it was pretty funny.

"Yeah, yeah," Karin said, waving off his words, as her eyes went to Kimi. "No I have not talked to the boy yet, but I will when I decide that it's time to ruin the rest of this trip for myself."

"Great," Kimi said, once again not bothered by Karin's dramatic words, as she moved to actually leave the room this time. "When you finally ruin the rest of the trip for yourself, my bed is always open for you to come and cry your life away in."

"Thanks boo!" Karin called, before the door was heard closing. She looked back over to Toshiro for a moment. Frowning at him.

Toshiro watched her frown deepen, and he thought of a distraction. "We still have another half hour before Yuzu is supposed to get here. Want to train your power a bit?"

"Yes!" Karin exclaimed as she sat back up quickly. Just the perfect distraction she was looking for.

 **Later that night, around midnight**

When Yuzu and her friends arrived at Karin's apartment, they were introduced to Karin and her roommates. Toshiro had actually stuck around for an hour or so before leaving. They ended up playing a few games, eating some pizza, and just having their own little party once a couple more of Karin's and Yuzu's friends came by. Even Taro showed up just to see Yuzu and tell her goodnight before the night was over. Which Karin's roommates all gushed at how adorable that was.

Now Karin and Yuzu were in Karin's bedroom, getting ready for bed. They were both changing into their pajamas when Yuzu noticed a gleam of light on Karin's stomach. "What was that?"

"What was what?" Karin countered hardly paying attention to Yuzu as she was slipping on her over large t-shirt to sleep in.

"Your stomach just sparkled." Yuzu replied, raising an eyebrow at how that had clearly made Karin freeze up.

"Oh..." Karin trailed off, moving over to go turn on the TV in the room. "I'm pretty sure you're seeing things-"

Yuzu interrupted Karin as she had reached over and lifted Karin's night shirt to see a shiny belly button piercing, and she just squealed saying "You got it pierced!"

"Yeah," Karin started, pushing Yuzu's hand away to allow her shirt to fall back down, then she moved to get in bed. "Don't make a big deal out of it."

"Dad's going to kill you," Yuzu said, laughing as she crawled into bed beside Karin, and just stared at her sister. "Did it hurt?"

"Yes, but it wasn't that bad," Karin replied, slightly surprised that she wasn't being scolded for doing something without their dad's permission. Yuzu would usually not be okay with something like this. "I got it done on our birthday."

"Well that's awesome. Hinata has her belly button pierced, and it looked pretty cool. I thought about it, but I don't think it's for me," Yuzu said, then grinned at her sister. "But it suits you. You can definitely pull it off."

Karin was quiet as she grabbed the remote to the TV to start sifting through channels. "The rest of my roommates have theirs done. Naomi got hers done on the same day as me."

Watching her sister going through channels, Yuzu yawned and leaned back against the pillows. "It's weird sleeping here. I'm just so used to sleeping in Ta-"

At Yuzu's pause, Karin straightened right up and looked at her. "Were you just about to say Taro's bed? Shut up! You two sleep together now?"

"Just sleep," Yuzu clarified, silently cursing herself at slipping up like that. "But yes."

"Oh my god," Karin shot back, then she grinned. "Are you two thinking about having sex?"

At Karin's blunt question, Yuzu was taken aback, and kind of at a loss for words as to what she should say. "No, I haven't thought about it. I'm not sure if Taro has either."

"He probably has, that's what all guys think about," Karin replied, then she held up a hand. "Okay, not all guys. But I mean come on Yuzu."

Yuzu was again really quiet for a moment, then her eyes met her sisters. "Have you done it before?"

"No," Karin replied, shrugging her shoulders, and frowning as her thoughts went back to Ryuu. "I mean for all I know, I don't even have a boyfriend anymore to even consider doing it with."

At the hint to Karin's relationship problems, Yuzu frowned. "Karin, you really just need to talk to him."

That turned Karin's expression around to a smirk. "Nah, I'd rather talk about you."

"And I'd like to change a subject," Yuzu shot back, as she took the remote from Karin. "Let's find a movie to watch."

 **The next morning**

"Are you sure though?" Karin was asking, a clear skeptical look on her face, as her eyes met those of a woman with black hair and bright blue and green streaks in it.

"I'm sure," was the reply from Akira. Having came at Yuzu's request for her to come talk to them without their dad or Ichigo around. Lucky for them, Akira wasn't too far away, as she and Tatsuki had appeared to be town hopping the past few days since they left Moss Tree. "After seeing Yuzu using her powers that night, I could sense it. We're are officially called Somnus. But a lot of my friends and I shorten it to Somi. Just because it's a lot less of a mouthful. Somnus means sleep, and it's derived from the word Somnium. Which means dream."

"That seems kind of stupid." Karin replied rather bluntly.

"Karin!" Yuzu exclaimed at her sisters lack of class.

Akira, however, just laughed off Karin's words. "I agree, it does sound a bit odd at first. But we're called that because unlike Shinigami our powers are derived from something living, and the powers a shinigami has come from death. Our powers come spiritually from a powerful race of living beings. Often the people in this race of ours can dream or have visions about things. Sometimes the dreams occur to benefit others, but sometimes they can occur as warnings."

Yuzu frowned hearing this. "But I don't think either of us have really experienced that."

"Well that's okay not everyone does right away-"

"I think that happened to me," Karin interrupted Akira, gaining both Akira's and Yuzu's eyes on her. "The night before my birthday, Toshiro took me out to go take down a hollow. Right before I could try to start using my power I got this image in my head of myself utilizing my power into a katana to take down the hollow. Which I didn't know what that meant at the time, but somehow I managed to do that very same thing in real life just after I saw that image."

Akira grew a smirk on her face hearing that. "I guess you're picking up on things pretty quickly then."

Karin shrugged. "Toshiro has been really helpful in learning some basics. I don't know how he does it considering my powers aren't the same as his-"

"That may be true," Akira interrupted, as she showed her own power in her hand. The way she did it was a lot more quick and effortless than Karin did, and a whole lot less messy. "But there are some similar concepts that apply to Somi and Shinigami. Like how we can hold our power, or some ways in managing and developing that power are the same. Toshiro probably has you working on holding your power and transitioning to something to help your mind relax."

"Meditation," Karin said, groaning with annoyance at the thought. "And it's been awful. He keeps saying that it's going to help, but it's always so damn miserable."

"I was the same way when I first started out. I can help you train if your interested," Akira replied after she laughed. Her eyes moved from Karin to Yuzu. "We can wait until after your programs have ended, and you two are back home before we do it. Rin can help too. She's actually been training me a good bit."

Karin's eyes lit up at the thought of training. "Hell yeah, I want to train and learn as much as I can about all this."

Yuzu however was quiet when eyes were on her. She just shrugged after a moment. "I'll have to think about it."

"What's there to think about Yuzu?" Karin countered, raising an eyebrow at her sister. "It'll be fun."

"I already told you that I'm not sure about any of this." Yuzu shot back frowning at her sister.

"And that's okay," Akira intervened before anything else could be said. "It may not be something that your interested in… You know honestly, I don't know how you two ended up with this power. I might be able to look into your lineage, but right now it's a mystery. I know Ichigo isn't like you two. He's clearly got the quincy side from his mother, and his father was a shinigami. Then there's you two… I don't know, I'll look into it."

Karin just jumped up from the couch when she looked at the time. "Sounds good to me. I hate to cut the conversation short, but I have class to get to."

Akira nodded as she stood up. "And I have to get back to Tatsuki, we've got another town we want to go to before we go back home."

"Thank you for coming Akira," Yuzu said politely. Nodding to the older woman before she left. Turning to look at her sister, Yuzu smiled. "I'll see you soon."

"Yeah." Karin replied, staring at her sister for a moment before quickly hugging her. "Have fun with Taro."

"Shut up." Yuzu shot back sticking out her tongue at her sister before grabbing her bag to leave. Once out in the hall she stopped and frowned. _So we're Somnus-or Somi- orr whatever. I don't really know if I want to be anything but just human..._

 **Later that day, Karin's POV**

Sighing heavily, Karin's eyes focused up on the ceiling. She had gone to her class, but her private lesson that she was supposed to have after class got canceled. So she was back in her apartment all by herself, as her roommates were either doing their own private lessons or in class. It had started raining when she was walking back from class, and now it was steadily pouring outside. Along with the sound of the rain and staring at her ceiling fan, Karin was left to her thoughts.

 _Everything with Ryuu has felt like a roller coaster. It was all amazing for months, then all of a sudden it's like we're going down hill and we just keep going faster and faster. And I don't think I'm overreacting or that I'm crazy. I have proof that he hasn't been texting or calling me, and how I've been trying to reach out to him. Then there is Toshiro… Was what happened on my birthday really like what Yuzu feels when she is with Taro? They're both so bubbly and happy around each other. I think I used to be that way with Ryuu, but now that I think about it I don't even think it was on that level. I don't know what I'm thinking anymore._

Hearing her phone buzz got Karin's attention. Picking it up to see it was a text from Toshiro.

 _Toshiro: Chinese food?_

 _Karin: I don't want to leave. It's pouring down rain._

 _Toshiro: Lucky for you, I already planned for that. I'm in the elevator heading up to your apartment now._

 _Karin: You're an amazing person. The doors unlocked._

After sending that text, Karin dropped her phone back down on her bed. Her eyes going back up to the ceiling. She could faintly hear the door to her apartment opening and closing, and a few seconds later her bedroom door was being pushed open. The smell of Chinese food hit her nose right away.

"Your being very productive on this rainy day." Toshiro told her, setting the bag of the Chinese food down so he could take off his jacket and shoes.

Karin's eyes moved to him, as she gave him a dark stare. "My mind is a dark place."

Toshiro paused to look at her with a raised eyebrow. "Okay then. Orange chicken or house-fried rice first?"

"Surprise me." Karin shot back, before she went back to looking up at the ceiling fan. A smile actually appearing on her face at how he just accepted her dark place of mind. _I'm glad he came over. Maybe he can get my mind out of this dark place._ Laughing at her thought, she moved to sit up.

"What are you laughing at?" Toshiro asked at her random laughter.

Karin shrugged her shoulders. "Myself."

"Okay..." Toshiro trailed off, as he reached into the bag to hand over the orange chicken to Karin. "Should I be worried about you all of sudden going crazy?"

"What are you talking about all of a sudden? I've been going crazy. Where have you been?" Karin countered, making them both start laughing. Her previous negative thoughts fading away as they laughed.

* * *

 **A/N: So this chapter ended up being longer than I meant for it to, but I guess that's just how it's going to be for these last few chapters. I was really excited to finally bring Karin and Yuzu together in this spin-off, as the only other time that's happened so far was in the first chapter when they were separating from one another. They both kind of discover a secret or two from one another. Karin getting her belly button pierced, and not only is Yuzu somewhat dating someone, she's also sleeping over with him practically every night.**

 **I also was excited to let you all know what exactly Karin, Yuzu, Akira, and Rin are. This will come into the sequel to The Reason a little bit, and if I decide to pursue more parts to this spin-off down the line, it will come into play. My favorite scene to write was between them in the coffee shop and them getting ready for bed at the end of the night. What was your favorite scene?**

 **Don't forget to review, favorite, and share this story with others. Also be sure to check out my other stories.**

 **Be sure to like my page (Ruby1235 Fanfiction) on Facebook and follow me on twitter ( Ruby1235Fanfic) for updates, sneak peeks, and hints for current and new stories :)**

 **Also be sure to check out my blog: ruby1235fanfiction. blogspot .com (no spaces)**


	9. Sparks of Fire

_Review:_

" _Okay..." Toshiro trailed off, as he reached into the bag to hand over the orange chicken to Karin. "Should I be worried about you all of sudden going crazy?"_

" _What are you talking about all of a sudden? I've been going crazy. Where have you been?" Karin countered, making them both start laughing. Her previous negative thoughts fading away as they laughed._

* * *

 **The next evening, 23rd of June, Karin's POV**

"You know what?!" Karin exclaimed after a moment full of anger. "I'm not doing this anymore! I'm done trying to make this work! I'm done!"

With that said, Karin ended hung up the phone and proceeded to toss it across the room. Her whole body full of rage, and she had to catch her breath after having been angrily pacing the room during the almost hour-long phone call. She had spent that hour arguing on the phone with Ryuu about everything that's been going on. The last few minutes were spent really yelling at each other on the phone, and Karin finally had enough of it all.

Leaving her room after another moment of angrily pacing, she crossed the hall to Kimi's room and opened the door. It was almost midnight, but she knew that her friend was still awake.

"Hey, if you get any louder I'm pretty sure our neighbors are going to get pissed," Kimi started, having been reading a book on her kindle. She looked up at Karin not saying anything after a moment. The look on Karin's face had Kimi's smile drop of her face. "Oh, babe. You broke up?"

Karin nodded, clenching her jaw for a moment. However, when she relaxed her jaw it was like the dam keeping her together broke, and she started crying. From a mixture of shock, anger, and sadness over what just happened. Crawling onto Kimi's bed, Karin brought a hand to her face, as she laid her head on the pillow.

Kimi's from deepened as she stroked Karin's hair back. "Oh babe, it's going to be okay. It is."

The mixture of everything she was feeling just increased as Karin cried. After everything, it was over. It was all over.

 **The next morning, the 24th of June**

Picking up her speed, Karin ran across the crosswalk just before it could turn red, and kept on running down the sidewalk. Pushing past the ache of her muscles to keep on going. It wasn't until she was outside her apartment building that she stopped. She had to catch her breath, as her muscles ached. Having not gone for a run in a while.

"Did you have a great run?"

Karin actually jumped at the sound of the voice from behind her. Spinning around, she relaxed when she saw it was Toshiro. "It was a good as it's going to get," she said, moving to go into the apartment building, she didn't say anything else until they were in the elevator. "I spent almost an hour arguing back and forth with Ryuu last night."

"Oh..." Toshiro trailed off, as he studied her expression. "You broke up with him."

It was quiet for a moment, then Karin nodded. "Yeah… After spending so much time yelling at each other, I just got to the point where I was completely done. I told him that we were done, then I hung up."

Toshiro watched her as they stepped off the elevator. "Do you feel any different?

Karin shrugged after a moment of thought. "After I hung up with him I spent the next hour crying hysterically in Kimi's room until I finally went to sleep." She stopped talking as they walked into her apartment. Her roommates were out, so she didn't have to worry about them overhearing their conversation. "When I woke up this morning I felt like this weight was lifted off my shoulders. I feel like the reason why I cried last night was purely because I was so angry after the whole thing. It also helped to wake up to not be reminded of him."

Toshiro raised an eyebrow as Karin held up her phone, a crack went down part of the screen. "What happened?"

"Apparently when you angrily throw it at a wall, the case doesn't always do its job," Karin replied, actually holding a smirk on her face. "Kimi cleansed my phone this morning before I could get my hands on it. All texts and calls from him were deleted, and she's been working on cleansing my social media for me so I don't have to see him there too. Which she's amazing for doing that… The only downside to any of this is that I need my phone screen replaced. I guess I'll be doing that today."

Toshiro watched how Karin's face seemed more relaxed. "You seem a lot better."

It was quiet for a moment, then Karin smiled. "I think I am… I need to grab a shower, but if you want, we can go grab some breakfast afterward."

Toshiro smirked as Karin walked towards the hall her bedroom was off, and he just moved sit on a stool at the bar. "Sounds good."

 **10 a.m., Yuzu's POV**

Combing her hair after stepping out her bathroom, Yuzu grabbed her phone before crossing the hall to Hinata's room. Knocking with the back of her hand, Yuzu continued to comb her hair, as she walked in after Hinata opened the door.

"So are you ready for our three hour class tonight?" Hinata asked, as she moved back to sitting on her bed.

"No, I don't think I can sit still for that long- can I borrow your charger? Mine is over in Taro's room," Yuzu broke off mid-sentence as she realized her phone battery was low. At Hinata's nod, she moved to plug her phone up. "I honestly don't think I have it in me to sit through art tonight. I've already finished the assignment."

"You should just leave early," Hinata said, noticing Yuzu's raised eyebrow, she laughed. "Yuzu it's not like it's school. You can leave if you don't have any work to do."

"Yeah but I don't want to be disrespectful to the professor," Yuzu replied still frowning.

Sighing heavily, Hinata shook her head. "Of course not. Well you can at least bring your laptop or tablet to pass some time."

"Maybe," Yuzu said, sitting on the bed near Hinata, she continued to comb her hair. "Taro's getting out of class earlier than I am, and he's going to get to go hiking."

Hinata smiled at her bringing Taro up again. "Oh I know it's hard to be separated, but I believe in you."

"Thanks," Yuzu shot back sarcastically, then she laughed. "I'm not going to deny it though."

"There's nothing wrong with it, you're clearly happy" Hinata replied, before picking up her phone when it buzzed. "Shin and Yukio are coming over to hang out before class."

"I'm going to go grab my card deck," Yuzu said, setting her phone down in her lap. "We can play some poker before we go."

 **11 a.m., Karin's POV**

Scowling as she had to once again push her still damp hair out of her face, Karin shook her head as she grabbed her coffee cup again. After her shower, she and Toshiro had gone to a diner to get some breakfast a few streets away from her apartment building. They had just about finished up.

Toshiro was amused at Karin's scowl, and smirked at her. "You could do the normal thing and get a haircut if your hair is bothering you that much."

"I know, but I just haven't gotten around to it," Karin said, her eyes sliding over to the waitress who had came back with their receipt. Rolling her eyes when the waitress had handed it over to Toshiro. He had stubbornly paid for both of their meals, and wouldn't let her pay for her own. "I'm getting the check next time."

"Sure you are." Toshiro replied, smirking at her Karin's eye roll. Looking down at his phone buzzing on the table, it was a text from Orihime. Reading it had him laughing, as his eyes went to Karin. "It's Orihime. She wants someone to watch Grey's Anatomy with her."

"I would say tell her I'd watch with her, but then that would give away your location," Karin replied, laughing then she finished her last bite of pancake, and downed the rest of her coffee. "Okay, I really need to go get some practice in on my piece after play in the concert in a few days."

"Look at you," Toshiro started, as they both got up to leave. "Actually doing what you came here to do in the first place."

"I know it's completely shocking," Karin replied, laughing at Toshiro's smirk. Once outside, they started down the sidewalk. "I originally wrote the song about everything I've been feeling with all the drama that went on with Ryuu. But this morning, before my run, I went and played the piece again. I ended up changing most of it, and I think it sounds a lot happier. I think it really is starting to represent me as a person, and how much I've changed… I know that sounds stupid, and cheesy, and too much information-"

Toshiro stopped Karin by taking her hand to literally stop her from moving forward. "I don't think it's stupid, or cheesy, or too much information. It's honest."

Karin felt her cheeks grow warm, as she held his eyes. Swallowing a lump in her throat as she felt the fluttering feeling inside of her once again. But that feeling changed to one of sensing a hollow. "There's a hollow."

Toshiro let go of her hand, and nodded once. "You're taking the lead. I'm not even going to change out of my gigai."

"Oh great, that's really comforting," Karin started, as they moved across the crosswalk, and turned down the sidewalk to head towards the hollow. "I mean I'm confident in myself, but you're the one who always likes to point out how I attract all sorts of danger."

"You'll be fine," Toshiro reassured as they picked up their pace. "And if not, you'll just kill us both."

"No pressure or anything," Karin shot back sarcastically, then she laughed. Sensing the hollow was getting closer, she picked up her pace, and channeled her power to create the katana again. Ready to go.

 **1 p.m., Yuzu's POV**

"Hey I'll see you guys later." Yuzu whispered to her friends, as she grabbed her bag from the ground. Trying not to gain the attention of the teacher.

Seeing Yuzu preparing to get up, Hinata raised an eyebrow. "Wait, I thought you didn't want to skip class?"

Yuzu held up her phone as she grinned."Taro said he's about to go, and he would wait for me if I wanted to come."

Hinata smirked at Yuzu's happy look. "Look at you breaking some rules."

"Well," Yuzu started, as she stood up. "You were the one who said I'm not required to stay here if there's no reason for me to be here." As that had her friends snickering, Yuzu slipped out of the classroom. The teacher hardly giving her a second glance. She made it over to the housing buildings, and onto Taro's floor just as he was shutting the door. Noticing he seemed to have not realized she was there, Yuzu skipped over to him. "Let's go hiking."

She did indeed surprise him, as Taro jumped slightly. But seeing her had him smiling. "Hey," he said, pausing to kiss her. "Did you sneak out of your class for me?"

"Yeah," Yuzu said, shrugging her shoulders, as they walked down the hall together. "It's not that big of a deal. You do it for me all the time."

"That may be true, but I skip class all the time," Taro replied, holding the door open for her to go back outside. "You on the other hand like to go to your classes."

"Maybe I don't care so much about that anymore," Yuzu shot back, as she laughed and took his hand. Moving to walk backwards so she could face him. "Maybe you're rubbing off on me."

Taro was grinning at how light and happy she was today. "My bad habits are rubbing off on you, and you're okay with that."

"More like I appreciate your sense for prioritizing fun over boring stuff," Yuzu replied, stopping her backwards walking to step in front of him and kiss him. When they broke their kiss, she smiled. "Let's go adventure."

Grinning at her bright smile, Taro nodded. Keeping her hand in his as they started walking again. "Okay, let's go."

 **A few hours later**

Yuzu laughed between Taro's kisses at him tickling her sides. They were rolling around on his bed, trading off between kissing and Taro trying to tickle her to make her laugh. Finally taking a moment to breathe, Yuzu was smiling at him as she was on top of him now, and was pushing her damp hair out of her face. "You can't blame me for us falling in the river."

"Yes I can," Taro replied, kissing her again, and using that moment to flip her back over so he was the one on top. "You were the one who pushed me in first."

Taro had kissed her again after he spoke, and Yuzu smiled into their kiss. "Well you pulled me in after wards, so I really think it's both of our fault."

"I don't think so." Taro replied tickling her again, making her laugh, before he kissed her again.

This time around the tickling and laughing slowly died out, and their kisses grew stronger. Yuzu's mind was slowly melting, as her body began enjoying this more and more as they kissed. The way his hands caressed her, moving up and down on her sides. She felt tiny sparks of fire in the places where he touched her. It wasn't until his hands had slid more up to her chest that she stopped their kissing. "I really shouldn't stay much longer. I have to get in some time to finish my painting for the art gala in a few days."

"Yeah, that's right," Taro said, moving to get off Yuzu, as he sat up. "While you go do art things, I'm going to probably take a nap."

Yuzu smiled back at him as she got up, having to readjust her shirt a little as she slipped on her flip flops. "Don't you have your own work to work on?"

Taro shrugged, as he laid back on his bed. "Yeah, but I do better at last minute."

"Right," Yuzu said, smiling as she rolled her eyes. Getting her phone off the charger, she leaned over and kissed him. "I'll see you when I'm done."

"Sounds good." Taro replied, grinning his lopsided grin at her. "Don't get lost."

"I'll try my hardest not to." Yuzu said, shaking her head at his laughter, then she left. However when she was out in the hall she stopped. A hand going to her chest, as she felt her heart racing. Her mind telling her that she did the right thing in stopping before it went to far, but the way she felt while they were together just then conflicted with her mind. Taking in a sharp breath, she tried to push the thoughts away, and moved to go down the elevator.

 **A couple days later, the 26th of June**

Opening the door to Karin's room, Toshiro was greeted with silence. Raising an eyebrow at the sight of Karin fully asleep in her bed. Checking the time on his phone to confirm it was 9 a.m., he shook his head, and walked over to the bed. "Karin?" It took quite a few attempts of saying Karin's name, and shaking her her a little to get her to make almost groaning sound to signal that she might be awake. Rolling his eyes at her not moving, Toshiro sighed. "Karin, would you get up already?"

After his words, Karin hummed lightly, as she had sat up. Her eyes remained closed, and she sighed. Then she proceeded to lay right back down as if she never got up.

Realizing that Karin hadn't actually been awake, Toshiro started to laugh. An uncontrollable laugh that got to the point of him having to sit down on her bed, as he was having trouble breathing.

Apparently Toshiro's laughter did the trick in waking Karin up, as she groaned and moved so she was on her back. "Shut up," she mumbled lowly, stretching and yawning as she heard him laughing more. Finally she opened her eyes, and looked at him tiredly. "How did you get in here?"

Toshiro stopped laughing finally, but kept his grin on his face. "Kimi let me in when she was leaving."

"That's just great." Was Karin's sarcastic reply, as she moved to roll over onto her stomach to face away from him.

"Why do you say it like that?" Toshiro questioned, an eyebrow raised at her.

Karin sighed, and lifted her head just enough to speak clearly. "Kimi-well really all my roommates-likes to do this thing that whenever anything relating to you happens, it becomes a thing."

"A thing?"

Yawning Karin moved her head so she was facing him again. "Yeah, and they all have a nickname for you too."

Toshiro's smirk appeared back on his face. "I don't think I want to know what it is."

"You don't." Karin replied, watching him for a moment in silence. "Why are you over here?"

Toshiro held up his phone, a smirk still on his face. "You were the one who texted me last night to come over in the morning to get some training in before your class."

"I mean when I was awake-"

"And you're not awake now?" Toshiro interrupted her, chuckling at her clear look of annoyance.

"Alright fine," Karin said, moving to sit up. Her hair was kind of all over the place, and her overlarge t-shirt was slightly hanging off her shoulder.

Toshiro watched her, as she grabbed her phone and started going through it. "I'm sensing this is somewhat of a morning routine for you. Waking up and sitting in bed for a while on your phone before you actually get up."

Karin only hummed in response, as she checked all of her social media and replied to the overly cute picture of Mina Orihime had sent. Finally after another minute or so, she set her phone down, and moved to get up. "Just warning you, I'm not wearing pants." She said, hardly giving Toshiro and chance to move to get up and leave, as she got up to grab clothes from her closet.

"Thanks for the quick warning." Toshiro told her sarcastically, rolling his eyes. But despite his conscious, he found himself not looking away from her. She was nearly 5'4", and her legs were giving a lot to her height. He quickly looked away we he noticed her turning back around.

"I'm going to go change in the bathroom, try not to go through my things while I'm gone." Karin told him, moving to the door.

"It's like you read my mind." Was Toshiro's sarcastic reply as he chuckled. It wasn't until Karin returned after a couple minutes in jean shorts and a longer crop top that he noticed the gleam from the piercing on her naval. "So I'm almost a hundred percent positive that your dad would not be okay with that."

Karin looked to Toshiro, then noticed he was looking at her piercing. Placing a hand over her the piercing, she was careful not to touch it, and just moved to grab a cover over. "It's my body," she started, as she went through her closet. "I usually am better at hiding it. But after getting it caught on a shirt last night, and nearly crying because it hurt so bad I'm trying not to bother it today."

"If it hurts, why did you get it?" Toshiro asked, an eyebrow raised at her.

"Well for one, I wanted it, so I got it," Karin replied, slipping on the cover over, and moving to grab her white converse. "Second, it doesn't hurt all the time, just when I catch it on my clothes or something. It'll take a while for it to heal, so this is just what I have to put up with until it does."

Toshiro shook his head, and whistled. "You don't make that much sense."

"Bite me." Karin shot back, sticking out her tongue at him.

 **Later that evening, Yuzu's POV**

After laughing on with the others, Yuzu's smile remained on her face as she observed them. She was hanging out with Taro's friends that night. It wasn't the first time, but it was the first time it wasn't in a party kind of environment. They were all Taro's age or older so it felt a lot different than hanging out with her own friends. Yuzu's focus turned back to Taro when he put his arm around her shoulders.

"Yeah, Yuzu's a famous artist and all. So she probably doesn't know what we go through."

Having not been paying attention, Yuzu was quick to catch onto what they were talking about. "If you call me a cel-"

"Celebrity," Taro interrupted her, a grin stretching across his face. "She's like a popular celebrity back home. All of her twenty something paintings got sold in the gala we had, even the institute bought one of her bigger paintings, and a couple of her smaller ones."

"I'm not a celebrity," Yuzu said to Taro, then her eyes went to his friends. "He just says that to get on my nerves."

"No it's true, you're art is amazing," Taro said, his grin still big on his face. "I'm just proud of you that's all. Can't I brag to my friends?"

Taro's darker haired friend had his own grin on his face, as he smoked his vape. "It seems to me that he's just trying to earn some brownie points here."

"Nah man, just being honest." Taro replied with a wave of his hand.

It was Yuzu's turn to grin, as she nudged Taro. "You're definitely trying to get some points."

At Yuzu agreeing with Taro's friends, that had them cracking up laughing. Taro just kept his grin on his face. "Maybe I am."

Yuzu laughed, then she moved to kiss Taro. Breaking their kiss after a moment she pushed his chest so he was a bit farther back, focused on his friends, and grabbed her deck of cards out of her bag. "So you said you play poker?"

The question had been directed to Taro's red headed friend with a beanie on his head. He just nodded and slyly grinned. "I'm kind of known as the king back home."

A smirk appeared on Yuzu's face, as she pulled the cards out of the box. "Well I hate to break it to you, but you've just met the queen."

 **11 p.m., Karin's POV**

Scrunching her eyebrows together, Karin's eyes took in her features. Focusing on her hair, she frowned, and hummed. It had been a long while since she got it cut, and it was clearly past time to cut it again. After another moment of staring, she finally started to pull it up in a bun, and her eyes went to the part of the mirror that showed Kimi's reflection from up on her bed. "I need a change."

"You've had a few drinks tonight," was what Kimi started with, not looking away from the magazine she was reading. "So I don't think you need to make any decisions right now."

"Okay," Karin agreed with a nod. Finishing putting her hair, she moved to get on the bed beside Kimi. Leaning back against the pillows she grabbed the remote to the TV. "But seriously though; I need a change."

That had Kimi laughing, as she flipped the page of her magazine. "This wouldn't have to do with your recent single status would it?"

"No… Well maybe." Karin replied with a hum. It had been three days since she broke up with Ryuu, and he hadn't been on her mind lately. _But now that he is…_ "You know what, no. It has nothing to do with that. I think I just really need a change. My hair has been the same for y ears. I mean yes, I did grow it out this pats year, but it's always been the same style."

"Well then change it."

Karin was quiet at Kimi's words. Pausing in her search for Grey's Anatomy on Netflix, as her eyes went to the mirror again. Staring at herself from a distance this time. Finally after a moment, she focused back on the TV, and selected the next episode they were going to watch. Dropping the remote on the bed, she grabbed the bowl of popcorn from Kimi, and got a handful.

 **A little past midnight, Yuzu's POV**

Yuzu's focus had fully toned into kissing Taro. What had just started as a simple kiss had turned into a much more heated make out. It wasn't until she moved to be on top that his hands started to move along her sides, and she began feeling the same enjoyment she felt the other day when they did this. Unlike last time, she didn't stop his hands from exploring upwards. The way he touched her was sparks of fire through her body, and it felt almost exhilarating. It kept going all the way until his hands slipped under her shirt. That seemed to be what it took for her mind to snap back to focus, and she stopped kissing him. "Taro, I don't know..."

Taro's eyes met hers, and he just smiled at her. "That's okay Yuzu. We don't have to."

Despite his reassuring smile, Yuzu frowned back at him. "I'm really sorry-"

"Yuzu," Taro interrupted her, then he kissed her once. "I want you to be completely comfortable." He then moved to sit up causing her to sit back on his lap, and he brought his arms around her. "I don't want to push you to do something that you aren't ready for. It's okay that you don't want to."

"Really?" Yuzu asked, biting her lip as she still wasn't sure.

"Really," Taro replied after chuckling at her look. "How about we finish the last Fast and Furious movie tonight?"

"Sounds good." Yuzu agreed, moving to get off Taro's lap, and watching him get up to go turn on the TV and grab the remote. Finally a smile appeared on her face, as she moved to look out the window. Feeling almost dazed as the exhilarating feeling she had before was still there. _This feeling…_

* * *

 **A/N: So things certainly heated up in this chapter if you get what I'm saying. Well it started with Karin ending it with Ryuu, which seemed to be kind of expected at this point. Then Yuzu… Yuzu certainly has had a lot of fun this chapter. I think my favorite scene to write was probably the scene where Toshiro came into wake Karin up. What was your favorite scene? And your take on what's going on with Yuzu and Taro?**

 **Don't forget to review, favorite, and share this story with others. Also be sure to check out my other stories.**

 **Be sure to like my page (Ruby1235 Fanfiction) on Facebook and follow me on twitter ( Ruby1235Fanfic) for updates, sneak peeks, and hints for current and new stories :)**

 **Also be sure to check out my blog: ruby1235fanfiction. blogspot .com (no spaces)**


	10. Going Home

_Review:_

" _Really?" Yuzu asked, biting her lip as she still wasn't sure._

" _Really," Taro replied after chuckling at her look. "How about we finish the last Fast and Furious movie tonight?"_

" _Sounds good." Yuzu agreed, moving to get off Taro's lap, and watching him get up to go turn on the TV and grab the remote. Finally a smile appeared on her face, as she moved to look out the window. Feeling almost dazed as the exhilarating feeling she had before was still there. This feeling…_

* * *

 **The next morning, June 27th, Karin's POV**

"So what do you think?" Karin asked, her eyes lit up and a smirk on her face, as she looked at Naomi and Rose.

"Wow, you two certainly did go for a change," Rose said, then she shook her head. "I thought you were joking."

Naomi nodded along with Rose. "Yeah, I mean Karin especially. In all of your past instagram posts, your hair has always been the same."

"Kimi the black definitely suits you." Rose started as she picked up Kimi's hair to look at it closer.

Kimi was all smiles at the attention her hair was getting. She wasn't planning on getting her hair done when she went with Karin to the salon. But after talking with a hairdresser, she ended up with a little trim and some black under the bottom layer of her blonde hair. "Yeah, I mean, I'm just trying to match my soulmate."

That had Karin laughing as she ran her fingers through her own hair. She had done the opposite of Kimi, and got a light blonde almost white on the bottom layer of her hair. She decided she liked the length but got a little trim. However, her she did get her bangs cut to frame her face, and the shortest part hit her cheekbones on each side. "And I really just needed the change- but I like matching with you too Kimi."

That had the other girls laughing as Karin had quickly added that last part at Kimi's glare. Rose was the first to stop laughing, as she began to study Karin. "So, this new change wouldn't have anything to do with you trying to impress anyone would it?"

That had Karin nearly spitting out her coffee, as her eyes went wide. "Impress who? I just broke up with my boyfriend like five seconds ago."

Naomi laughed shortly, then settled with a smirk in Karin's direction. "Four days ago, and I don't know… Maybe someone we all like to call smooth light and sexy-"

"No, no, no," Karin interrupted, quickly waving her hand at Naomi, and rolling her eyes at the other girls laughter. "Do not go there. I don't know how many times I have to say that we're just friends. We've always been just friends, and will always be-"

A knock on the door stopped Karin from speaking. Rose just grabbed her bag, and hooked her arm through Naomi's. "Well while you're just being friendly with everyone Karin, Naomi and I have to get off to class, but don't worry we will be available to torture you later."

"Thanks," Karin shot back with an eye roll. "Can't freaking wait."

The other girls started laughing. Naomi was the first to get to the door to open it. Sure enough, there was Mr. Smooth light and sexy himself. That made her grin widen, as she looked back to the kitchen. "Speaking of, Karin you've got company."

Karin had already noticed the white hair when Naomi opened the door, and had ducked down behind the counter. Cursing under her breath at the sound of her roommates laughter. "I hate all of you."

Toshiro strolled into the apartment after Naomi and Rose walked out. Raising an eyebrow at their laughter, he closed the apartment door, and approached the kitchen. "What was that about?"

"Don't worry about it." Karin replied after hitting Kimi's ankle to get her to stop laughing. Once she was sure Kimi was done laughing, she got up from where she was crouched behind the counter. Just in time to meet Toshiro's eyes from across the counter top.

Toshiro's eyes widened slightly at the sight of her hair. "That's different."

Instead of saying something like a normal person, Karin just stayed dead silent, as she stared back at him. Feeling as if her entire mind just decided to stop working.

Eying Karin for a moment, Kimi's eyes went to Toshiro once it was confirmed Karin wasn't saying anything. "Good different or bad different?"

"Good," Toshiro replied after a moment, moving to sit on one of the bar stools, then focusing back on Karin again. "How long have you been planning on doing it?"

Shaking her head, Karin mentally slapped herself to get her mind working again. "I actually didn't really plan it. I just decided to do something to it last night, then Kimi and I went as soon as we woke up this morning," she said, pausing to run her fingers through her hair some more. "I wanted a change."

"Well you certainly did that," Toshiro replied, then a smirk grew on his face. "First you get a new piercing, and now your coloring and cutting your hair. You need a lot of change lately."

Toshiro's words had Kimi raising an eyebrow in Karin's direction. "How does he know about your belly button? I thought you were keeping that a secret."

"He just accidentally saw it the other day…" Karin trailed off at the almost suggestive look in Kimi's eyes, which had her frowning. "Don't you have a private lesson to get to?"

Laughing at Karin's frown, Kimi waved her off, and moved to grab her bag. "Don't worry, I'm going."

Karin sighed and slapped a hand to her face as Kimi continued her laughter, as she walked out of the apartment. It wasn't until after she heard the door shut, that Karin dropped her hand from her face. She just moved to the coffee maker, as it just finished brewing the second pot for the day. "Want some?"

"Sure." Toshiro replied, having been holding an amused smirk on his face at how clearly whatever Kimi was hinting at had Karin's face turning red. He continued watching Karin move in the kitchen, but it wasn't until she walked over to the counter with their coffee that he spoke again. "I really like it."

That had Karin pausing after she had set down his coffee mug for him on the counter top, as her eyes met his. Unsure of what he was talking about.

"Your hair," Toshiro clarified at her raised eyebrow, then he chuckled. "It suits you."

Karin lifted her hand up to run her fingers through her hair. Her eyes moved away from his, as she felt her cheeks growing warm again. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Toshiro replied softly, as he watched her blush again. That's how he was able to see the corner of her mouth turn upward.

 **Noon, Yuzu's POV**

Looking up at the puffy white clouds in the sky, Yuzu smiled at the beautiful view. After a moment, her eyes went to her right to meet grey/green ones. "I don't want to go home tomorrow."

"I know, I feel like these last few weeks have gone by way too fast," Taro agreed, reaching over to push Yuzu's hair out of her face when some of the wind moved it. He grinned at her smile. "I'm going to miss being able to spend so much time with you everyday."

"We'll still see each other, we live in the same town." Yuzu replied with a laugh.

"I know, but I mean see each other like this. Spending all day together, and being able to have you sleep over every night," Taro chuckled on that note, as he shook his head. "I don't think your dad would be okay with you spending the night at my house every night."

That made Yuzu laugh along with him. "Yeah probably not."

Taro's eyes moved back to her from the sky. "But, on the bright side, we'll at least be able to see each other almost everyday. Now that we're attending the same school and all."

"That's true," Yuzu said as she propped herself up on her elbows so she could lean over and kiss him. "I'm looking forward to it."

"Me too." Taro agreed watching her for a moment longer, then they both laughed. When their laughter settled, Taro leaned closer to her, and kissed her this time. Happily taking in the moment, and taking his time kissing her.

Yuzu was more than happy to keep on kissing him. It was the perfect day. The sky was beautiful, and the green was peaceful. She wanted to make the moment last forever.

 **1 p.m., Karin's POV**

Sipping at her coffee, Karin walked out of the coffee shop with a happy smile on her face.

"You're a growing coffee addict." Toshiro told her, smirking as he had held the door opening for her to walk out. Even though they just had coffee an hour ago at her apartment, she already wanted more once they were out in the city.

"I'm not an addict," Karin replied quickly, then looked down at her coffee cup. "I just can't live without it."

Toshiro moved to fall into step with her walking down the sidewalk, and he stared at her for a long moment in silence. Finally they both started to crack up laughing.

When her laughter died down, Karin sipped her coffee, and eyed the city around them. "I can't believe today is the last full day here."

"I can't believe I've been here for so long," Toshiro said, shaking his head at the thought. "I always have a lot of work to do in the Soul Society."

Karin laughed, as her eyes went back to him. "Well you're clearly doing a great job then."

A smirk grew on Toshiro's face at her words. "Shut up," he said, a phrase that Karin often used towards him, and he found himself picking up on it. "I typically don't spend so much time in the human world. I at least go back to the Soul Society every few days. I haven't been back in over two weeks."

Humming as she sipped her coffee, Karin smirked. "It must be because I'm such great company." While that made Toshiro chuckle, Karin's focus went over to the windows of the stores they were walking by. The wind was blowing a little, and her hair moving in the reflection of the windows got her attention. Unknown to her, a smile appeared on her face as she brought her hand up to her hair.

"Still not used to it?" Toshiro asked, having watched her looking at her reflection in the windows.

"Not yet. It'll take some adjusting to," Karin replied, looking back over to him, her smile widened. Her eyes, however, ended up catching sight of a store across the street. More specifically, what it was showcasing in the window. Speeding over towards the crosswalk, she stopped to hit the button on the street light. "Oh my god, I need that sweatshirt!"

Toshiro stopped beside her, and looked across the street. His eyes went straight to what must have got her attention. It was a black sweatshirt, with little white coffee cups all over it. That had him rolling his eyes, as he was crossing his arms. "Addict."

"It's so cute though." Karin replied, hardly noticing he was referring to her caffeine addiction. The light for the cross walk was still red, so she proceeded to hit the button again. And again. And again.

At her constant tapping of the button, Toshiro reached over, and put his hand over hers to make her stop. "One time usually does the trick."

Karin dramatically sighed, watching him smirk at her, but she didn't even care. "It's taking forever."

Watching Karin pouting had Toshiro cracking up laughing, and he shook his head back at her. "It's not going to disappear. You're just being impatient."

That actually made Karin laugh. "Now that you said that, we're probably going to get in there, and they either won't have it in stock or won't have it in my size."

"Oh I hope not," Toshiro replied, crossing his arms over his chest. "I can already imagine how much online shopping that I'm going to have to sit through when we go back to your apartment."

Karin's eyes lit up at that. "Ooo, I bet they have a bunch of stuff online-"

"Oh look we can walk now." Toshiro interrupted her, taking her by the hand to start walking. Smirking at the sound of her laughter as they went.

 **Later that night**

After Karin's final music recital and the after party, Karin and Toshiro returned back to her apartment to hang out. Since her friends were still out and about, they decided on just watching a movie. Per Karin's request, and partial begging, they ended up watching Finding Dory. Which they had just finished up, and Karin was grinning ear to ear at how Toshiro was smiling. "You liked it."

"It wasn't that bad." Toshiro admitted after a moment, holding his smirk on his face, as that had her laughing.

"The other day I saw this sweatshirt with Hank from this movie on it. I finally get it now. I think I need that sweatshirt."

Laughing, Toshiro shook his head, as he looked to her. "You and your sweatshirt addiction. First the cupcake one, then the coffee one from today, and now another one."

Sitting up, Karin tugged at the coffee sweatshirt she was wearing. "I'll have you know that this is really super comfortable, and worth every penny I spent on it."

"Right," Toshiro said after chuckling. "I'm just going to ignore your addictive personality."

"Aw thanks," Karin replied, grinning at his eye roll. "You complain about my "addictions" to things like coffee and sweatshirts, but you haven't left me yet. I can tell it's just because you care about me so much."

Raising an eyebrow in her direction, Toshiro smirked. "Clearly something has to be keeping me around."

"It's definitely my charm and amazing good looks." Karin joked, moving to flip her hair over her shoulder all dramatically, making her laugh.

"More like your sarcasm and your sense of humor." Toshiro shot back, smirking at her laughter.

"Well, I am pretty funny," Karin agreed, as she had made them both laugh. "You're pretty funny yourself, which is why I decided to keep you around."

Back to raising an eyebrow, Toshiro watched her. "You decided?"

"Yeah, I mean if you have any objections, you better start now."

Humming in thought for a moment, Toshiro shrugged. "I can't think of any off the top of my head, but if you make me sit through two more hours of watching you online shop again, I might have a few."

Karin laughed, as she moved closer to the end of the bed to reach over to get off Netflix and turn her TV off. "I'll keep that in mind."

Grabbing his phone, Toshiro looked at the time, and whistled. "It's pretty late."

Having glanced at the time before she got of Netflix, Karin raised an eyebrow. "Damn, you're right. Almost midnight. My old lady self needs to be asleep right now," she said, smiling as that had made him laugh. "Well next time we're together, we're going to have to watch all my other favorite animated movies. Only because you clearly love them so much."

Toshiro laughed, as he moved to sit up. "Alright-"

Karin had turned back to face him after turning the TV off, just as he had sat up. Leaving them incredibly close to one another. It seemed to get really quiet, and Karin began to feel that fluttering feeling again. Her heart pounded in her chest, as they stared at each other. Without really thinking, Karin moved the rest of the way forward, and kissed him. That sent an alarm off in Karin's mind, as she pulled back quickly. She brought her hand to her mouth. Her eyes wide, as she couldn't believe she just did that. "I-"

Toshiro reaching up to push her bangs back from her face had interrupted her. It remained quiet between them, as their eyes locked. This time Toshiro was the one to move forward, and he kissed her.

Karin's fluttering feeling amplified when he kissed her. It continued on until he had wrapped an arm around her waist to pull her closer to him, and the fluttering turned to fire. Bringing both her hands to his shoulders, as she adjusted. The moonlight coming through the cracks of her windows, and the sounds of the cars outside the building slowly started to fade away. Leaving her focus right in the moment. The perfect moment.

 **A little after midnight, Yuzu's POV**

Yuzu smiled into her and Taro's kissing. They had been back at Taro's room for barely twenty minutes, but in those twenty minutes things heated up. Leaving both Taro's and Yuzu's shirt on the floor.

It hadn't been until Yuzu was back on top of Taro, that he had broke their heated kissing. He had found himself reaching to take off her bra, and that had been what made him stop. "We should probably stop Yuzu."

However, much unlike her usual self, Yuzu didn't agree. "I don't want to stop."

Taro only frowned back at her. "Yuzu-"

Yuzu kissing him had interrupted his words. When she pulled back a little she laughed lightly. "I don't want to stop Taro."

Still apprehensive, Taro stopped her when she kissed him again, and he actually moved to sit up. "Yuzu, we've had a few drinks tonight, and I don't think you really want to."

"Taro, I didn't drink that much," Yuzu started, resting a hand on his face, as she kept her smile on her face. "I want to."

Staring at Yuzu for a long moment in silence, Taro continued to hesitate. "Are you sure?"

"Yes I'm sure," Yuzu replied with a nod. Moving her hands behind her back, she unhooked her bra. She slipped it off, and dropped it on the floor. Watching his eyes move down, she smiled, as she settled more on his lap. "I want to, and I can feel that you want to too."

That had Taro's eyes focusing back on hers. After another moment, he reached forward to pull her back to him, and he kissed her. Moving them around so he was back on top of her.

 **The next morning, June 28th, 6 a.m., Karin's POV**

Hearing her alarm going off was what startled Karin awake. She was quick to reach over to turn it off. Groaning slightly she rubbed her forehead, and moved to lay back down on her pillow. However, that's when her eyes met turquoise ones, and she remembered she wasn't alone. Thoughts from last night flooded back to her. They had made out with each other for quite a while. After they stopped, she told him he could just stay over since it was so late, and here they were the next morning.

They stayed quiet as they stared at one another, Karin started to feel a little fluttering feeling inside of herself at the thought of kissing him. Finally she broke eye contact, as she moved to get up from the bed. A small smile on her face. Going to slip on some on some shorts under her overlarge t-shirt, she then went back to her phone. "I have to go ahead and pack the rest of my stuff to go to the airport soon. I was supposed to do that last night."

"On that note, I'll leave you to that fun," Toshiro replied, getting up from the bed after stretching. He moved to put his shoes on, then he chuckled. "You probably shouldn't have had me come over after that little party then."

"It was worth it." Karin replied under her breath, her eyes widening when she realized that Toshiro had heard her. She remained quiet as she watched him putting his shoes on. It wasn't until he had started towards her door, that she moved quickly over to stand in front of it before he could open. She had stopped rather close to him, and was taken aback slightly. She opened her mouth to say something, but found herself at a loss for words. After a moment, she smiled again, and rubbed the back of her neck. "I guess I'll see you around back in Karakura."

Toshiro grew a smirk his face. Taking a step closer to her, he leaned his head down and kissed her. Stepping back after a moment, his smirk widened at her surprised look. "I guess you will."

Stepping out of the way of the door, Karin crossed her arms over her chest, as she watched him walk out. Waiting until she heard the front door to the apartment open and close, she darted back over to her bed, and jumped on it. Giggling like a little girl, she brought her hands to her face after a moment. _This fluttering feeling won't go away, but I kinda like it._

With that thought in mind, her big smile returned back to her face. Trying to shake it off, she hopped up off her bed, and went to take a shower. It wasn't until almost twenty minutes later, she was done with her shower, and walked out into the living room to grab some coffee. However, she slowed to a stop at the sight of her three roommates. All of which, got really quiet when she walked in. Seeing raised eyebrows, had her sighing heavily. "Oh geez."

That seemed to make the other three girls all start talking at once. All about how she had Toshiro over last night. Karin remained quiet as she got her coffee. It wasn't until after her first sip that she motioned for them to all stop talking. "It is definitely not what you all are thinking."

"So nothing happened?" Naomi asked, an eyebrow raised, as she propped her hand on her hip.

Opening her mouth to find no words coming out, Karin looked down at her coffee cup in silence.

Right away that got Kimi's eyes widening, as she clapped her hands together. "Something did happen."

"Kind of." Karin admitted after a moment. To her dismay, a smile broke out on her face, and she just tried to hide it by drinking some more coffee. Which only seemed to rally up her roommates once more.

"Spill. Everything." Kimi insisted, as Karin moved to join them over on the couches in the living room.

"We just kissed each other, that's all." Karin admitted, as she plopped down. Trying to play it cool, she rolled her eyes at how that had brought goofy grins to all of her roommates faces.

Kimi turned on the couch to face Karin directly. "How much kissing went on here?"

"I don't know… A lot, I guess." Karin said, having to hide her smile again by taking a sip of her coffee again. That again started all sorts of chatter from her roommates.

"Oh how scandalous," Rose teased, laughing along with the other girls. "And he spent the night too."

"It wasn't that big of a deal." Karin insisted, but noticed that was hardly heard over the other girls talking.

"So what about Ryuu?" Naomi's question stopped all talking, and brought them into silence.

"What about him?" Karin countered an eyebrow raised. "We broke up."

Rose shrugged at that. "Well that's true, but it was barely five days ago."

"Yeah, what if things are different once you get home?" Naomi added.

Karin was quiet for a long moment. Thinking of going back home, but her thoughts were only focused on white hair and turquoise eyes.

Kimi, thinking that Karin was thinking about Ryuu, just waved off the other girls words. "You know what? Ryuu doesn't even matter Karin. He needs to be dead to you when you get back home. He's been a complete jackass to you, and you don't need that… But Toshiro on the other hand..."

"Smooth light and sexy." Rose said, making them all crack up laughing.

 **A little before 6:30 a.m., Yuzu's POV**

Leaning her head back against the shower wall, Yuzu's eyes moved upwards toward the ceiling. The water pouring down around her where she sat on the shower floor. _Taro and I had sex… and it was amazing._ Even as she thought that, tears were slowly rolling down her cheeks, as an overwhelming feeling of guilt coursed through her. She had woke almost half-an-hour ago. She got dressed and snuck out of Taro's room to avoid waking him up. Then she came back to her own room, and got in the shower. Where she was now.

Feeling a couple more tears fall, Yuzu brought a hand up to her face, as her whole body tensed when she quietly sobbed. _I should_ _n't_ _have done it. We shouldn't have done it._ Another sob tore through her, and she just let her head fall back against the shower wall again. Her eyes looking back up at the ceiling and the water pouring down. _It was a mistake. A big freaking mistake._

Yuzu wasn't sure how much more time had past, but after feeling like she cried it out she began to think a little clearer. _I need to get out of here._ With a goal to focus on, she got herself off the shower floor, and turned off the water. After getting dressed, she speed packed her things to leave. Slipping a note under Hinata's door, telling her she'd explain why she left early later, and left the building. After turning her keys, she made her way out front to a waiting uber. Getting in, her eyes went to the driver.

"New Luna Airport correct?" The driver asked her.

"Yeah." Yuzu confirmed numbly. Her eyes looking out the window as they started driving. In the midst of getting ready to leave, she cashed in her train ticket, and bought a flight from the nearest airport instead. Which was an hour away, but at least it wouldn't involve her having to sit on a train having to confront Taro about what they did. Just the thought of Taro had tears back in Yuzu's eyes, and she tried her best to think of something else to keep from breaking down in front of the uber driver. She propped her head up, closed her eyes, and sighed. Trying to think of going home.

 **Eight a.m., Karin's POV**

"How far away do they live again?"

"I think they live in Windsworth," Kimi replied, hooking her arm through Karin's as they walked forward with the other guests to board the plane. "But they just got an earlier flight than we did I guess."

Sighing heavily, Karin put her sunglasses on when they stepped outside. "I mean at least they only live about an hour away… It's going to be so weird not seeing each other everyday."

"We have the rest of the Summer to meet up a bunch, and at least you and I will get to see each other more," Kimi replied with a smile, as they started up the steps to board the plane. "I wish we were sitting next to each other. I'm going to miss you."

That made Karin smirk as they got on the plane, and started to walk down the aisle. "Should we say our dramatic goodbyes now?"

"We shall." Kimi replied, turning to face Karin, she dramatically hugged her friend. "This trip has been a blast, and I don't know how I'm going to make it without you babe."

Karin had to hold back a laugh, as she tried to be serious. "I know, we're going to be so far away from each other, and I don't know if I can do this without you boo."

The use of their nicknames for each other got them all giggly as they stopped their dramatic hug. Kimi moved to sit down in her seat, and Karin continued walking. Only to sit down four aisles back from her friend. Karin was quick to snapchat the back of Kimi's head to her, and send it to tell her just how far apart they were. She had to hold back laughing when Kimi sent one back telling her they were sooo far apart.

As more people boarded the plane, Karin got comfortable. She was in the window seat, and there was only one seat available beside her. She didn't plan on bothering whoever it was that was going to sit there, so she tried to go ahead and set her stuff up. She pulled out her headphones, and started listening to some music. She also got out her tablet. Turning it on to see a list of colleges, she smiled. After having spent some time talking to some of the older college-aged people who attended the program, she actually found herself interested in the idea of going to college. _But I'll have a lot of work to do back home if I'm going to get high school started off right. I've got to take it a step at a time I guess._

Receiving texts from Naomi and Rose in the group text she had with her now former roommates, Karin smiled as she texted them back. Laughing as Kimi threw in a bunch of emoji's. She had been so engrossed in texting her friends that she hardly noticed when someone sat down next to her. It wasn't until after she texted her dad about how she was on the plane all safe and sound that she finally looked up from her phone to take a peek at who she'd be spending the four hour plane ride next to. Her eyes widened, and her jaw dropped. She slid her headphones off to hang around her neck. "Yuzu?"

The brown haired Kurosaki sister only put a smile on her face, and looked to her sister with her tired eyes. "I was wondering how long it'd take you to notice."

"What are you doing here?" Karin asked, her eyes lit up, as she leaned over to hug her sister.

Yuzu shrugged, as she looked over Karin's shoulder out the window. "I just decided I wanted to go home earlier. The train wouldn't be leaving for another two hours. So I changed plans."

Karin was still grinning as she pulled back from her sister. Flicking her hair over her shoulder. "Notice anything different?"

Putting a smile back on her face, Yuzu nodded. "You changed up your hair. It looks nice."

Hesitating before she could saying anything back, Karin noticed Yuzu's smile faltering, and a strange look in her sister's eye. _Something's off here._ "Yuzu-"

"It's all good," Yuzu interrupted, as she moved to lean against the back of the seat. Knowing that Karin caught onto her lack of enthusiasm. "I'm just cranky. I barely slept last night."

Karin studied her sister in silence. There was all sorts of red flags. She knew something wasn't right, and she didn't think that it had to do with her sister being tired. However, instead of pressing her sister with questions, she just leaned back on her seat as well. Reaching over to take Yuzu's hand, she offered her a smile. "We're going home Yuzu."

Sighing as she relaxed her tense posture, Yuzu moved to lean her head against her sister's shoulder, and closed her eyes. "We're going home."

* * *

 **A/N: And that's a wrap on this spin-off. Yuzu did something that she regrets, and Karin kissed our favorite white haired shinigami captain. We also learned what it is that Akira, Rin, Yuzu, and Karin are. Which will have a little play in the sequel for The Reason. I'm really happy with how this spin-off turned out, and I know you all are wondering where I'm going from here. I love the focus on Karin and Yuzu, and I am potentially considering doing a sequel to this spin-off series. HOWEVER, I don't want all my regular The Reason readers to panic. My propority is to start on the sequel to The Reason before I do anything else for this spin-off.**

 **Well, I've already started writing for the sequel to The Reason. Which is going to start up hopefully around late August or September. The only reason why it's starting off so late is because I'll be taking around three or four weeks off after July just because I've been writing every week, all week since mid-December of 2016. I still have to finish uploading chapters for my two other stories as well to wrap them up before my three-four week break.**

 **I hope you all enjoyed this spin-off! What was your favorite part? Would you be interested in a potential sequel for this spin-off story?**

 **Don't forget to review, favorite, and share this story with others. Also be sure to check out my other stories.**

 **Be sure to like my page (Ruby1235 Fanfiction) on Facebook and follow me on twitter ( Ruby1235Fanfic) for updates, sneak peeks, and hints for current and new stories :)**

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